Theft of College Mace, 1787

In 1787 the ceremonial mace of Edinburgh University was stolen, never to be recovered, by an unidentified thief. After his trial and execution, suspicion fell on the notorious criminal William 'Deacon' Brodie.

The origins of the College Mace are unknown but it is certain that one existed by 1640, when it was carried before Alexander Henderson (c1583–1646) as Rector of the University. On the night of 29-30 October 1787, the door of the University Library was broken open, and the mace stolen from the press in which it was usually kept. The Magistrates of Edinburgh offered a reward of ten guineas for any information on the crime but to no avail. On 2 October 1789, the Town Council of Edinburgh presented the Senatus Academicus with a new silver mace decorated with the Royal Ensigns of King James VI, founder of Edinburgh University, and with arms of the City and University of Edinburgh.

The Town Council's readiness to replace the mace was doubtless due to the fact that one of their own body was suspected of stealing it. William Brodie (1741-1788), was a respectable cabinet-maker, deacon of a trades guild, and town councillor, who lived a secret nocturnal existence as a burglar. His double life was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Brodie was tried and sentenced to death on 29 August 1788 for robbing the Excise Office. After his death, many realized that he had been in an ideal position to steal the mace. As one of the Patrons of Edinburgh University, he knew precisely where the mace was kept. It was widely thought that the Town Council sought to hush the matter up by presenting a new mace as quickly as possible.

The new mace was donated just in time to be used in the ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone of Old College in 1789.