Sir Alan Brodrick (1623–1680)

Oil portrait by Robert Walker depicting Sir Alan Brodrick,. 1640s

Three quarter length image of a man, Sir Alan Brodrick, with long curly dark hair wearing an armour including a breastplate, shoulder armour (pauldrons), and forearm guards (vambraces). His left hand rest on a helmet. and the right hand is not visible. the background is black to the left and clouds are visible to the right.

Sir Alan Brodrick (1623–1680)

Politician and Surveyor General of Ireland

Born in Wandsworth, Surrey, Sir Alan Brodrick was a prominent 17th-century English politician and royalist. Educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and Gray’s Inn, he was called to the bar in 1648. During the Interregnum, he supported the monarchy and served as secretary to the Sealed Knot, a royalist underground movement.

Following the Restoration of Charles II, Brodrick was knighted and appointed Surveyor General of Ireland, a role he held for life. He served as MP for Orford in England and Dungarvan in Ireland, and was active in land settlement commissions, receiving substantial land grants in Dublin and Kilkenny.

Brodrick was known for his legal acumen and political influence, though later criticised for self-interest in land adjudications. He became increasingly religious in his later years and remained closely connected to the Duke of Ormond. He died unmarried in Wandsworth in 1680.