The character takes her name from the historical Jean Brodie (aka Jean Watt), common law wife or mistress of William Brodie, whom the fictional Miss Brodie claims as a direct descendant; thus, she is the fictional namesake of the real Jean Brodie. The real Deacon William Brodie was indeed a cabinetmaker and fashioner of gibbets. Deacon Brodie was a deacon of the Guild of Wrights; he did rob the Excise Office; and he was executed on a gibbet that he may indeed have designed himself.