Brodrick was elected to be a Fellow of Merton College in 1855 and was called to the bar in 1859.
At the 1868 and 1874 general elections, Brodrick stood as a Liberal at Woodstock, but was defeated.
He was opposed to William Ewart Gladstone's policy on Ireland.
He was a member of the London School Board from 1877 to 1879 and Warden of Merton from 1881 until his death in 1903.
Brodrick wrote a number of books, including:[4] This article about a British historian or genealogist is a stub.