i am hunting for "Walter Brodie", who was a tailor in Leith. He died 15 March 1845 of "lunacy". Walter was aged 39 (although in 1840 his age was recoded as 30). He was the partner of Jane Rankin, and the mother of Alexander Brodie, born 1840.
I can find no record of a marriage between Jane and Walter nor of Walter's birth. Family lore, which has yet to be proven wrong (although the "lunacy" was missing) says Walter or Walter Guthrie Brodie was quite closely descended from The Brodie's of Brodie Castle.
I don't know if the death cause is suicide, alcoholism, syphilis or some other euphemism for "lunacy" or mental illness. Neither do I know if this would result in a birth record being destroyed.
Alexander Brodie emigrated to NZ where he became most successful.
