 Although he was a man of great gifts, he was so hot-tempered that even Jonathan Swift is said to have been afraid of him.Brodrick was the second son of Sir St John Brodrick of Ballyannan, near Midleton in County Cork, by his wife Alice (died 1696), daughter of Laurence Clayton of Mallow, County Cork, and sister of Colonel Randall Clayton MP, of Mallow.Brodick's father had received large land grants during the Protectorate, and thus the family had much to lose if the land issue in Ireland was settled to the satisfaction of dispossessed Roman Catholics.