Origins of the 'Forty-five : $b and other papers relating to that rising
History
Origins of the 'Forty-five : $b and other papers relating to that rising
Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746
Walter Grossett[92] of Logie was the grandson of a certain Alexander
Grossett, or Grosier, or Grosiert, a Frenchman, who came over to Great
Britain in the Civil Wars and served King Charles I. in the army. He
settled in Scotland, and died there, leaving a son Alexander. This son
purchased the small estate of Logie, near Dunfermline. He was an ardent
Covenanter, and retired to Holland at the time of the persecutions.
Alexander left an only son, Archibald, who married Eupham Muirhead, a
daughter of the laird of Bredisholm, in North Lanarkshire, by whom he
had three sons; of these Walter was the eldest. Through his mother,
he was a cousin of Sir John Shaw of Greenock, and was also nearly
connected with the families of Lord Blantyre and the Earl of Cathcart.
In 1745 this Walter Grossett was Collector of Customs at Alloa, an
office he had held for seventeen years. He was exceedingly active in
his vocation, and very successful in the prosecution of smugglers. A
short time before the Rising, at great risk to himself, he made one
of the largest seizures of smuggled tobacco ever made in Scotland,
thus enriching the Treasury by several thousand pounds.[93] Early in
the ’Forty-five, eight days before Prince Charles entered Edinburgh,
Grossett was commissioned by Lord Advocate Craigie to seize the boats
and shipping on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth to prevent
their falling into the hands of the Jacobite army, then assembling
at Perth. Apparently his performance gave satisfaction, for he was
promoted to be Collector at Leith, and he was constantly employed
thereafter by the military authorities and the Lord Justice-Clerk,
both in executive work and in secret service. His services were so
highly approved by the Duke of Cumberland that H.R.H. promised him
‘his countenance on every occasion.’[94] After the suppression of the
Rising, he was employed by the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State,
to collect evidence for the prosecution of the rebel lords and other
Jacobite prisoners, and to escort the witnesses for the prosecution to
London. For his services to Government he was promoted to the office of
Inspector-General of Customs in 1747, on the recommendation of the Duke
of Cumberland.[95]
Grossett must have been a man of great personal courage, for he went
about with his life in his hand. On one occasion, it is related, he
saved the life of his cousin Sir John Shaw by entering the Jacobite
camp (it is not stated when or where) and carrying him off in the
disguise of a Jacobite officer.[96] His enemies, whether Jacobites
or smugglers, perhaps both, wreaked terrible vengeance on his house
and his family, treating his wife so harshly that she died shortly
afterwards.[97]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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