This narrative is occasionally referred to in Sir William Fraser’s Chiefs of Grant, but is not included in that work. The text is printed from the original manuscripts in the Public Record Office.
THE CASE OF THE REV. JOHN GRANT AND OF GRANTS OF SHEUGLY
To show his zeal for the Government after Culloden, Ludovick Grant marched his Strathspey men, eight hundred strong, into Urquhart and Glenmoriston, and under threat of fire and sword arrested his clansmen who had been ‘out.’ The fighting men were handed over to the Duke of Cumberland, and most of them were transported. Grant of Sheugly and his eldest son had not actually been out but were accused of urging their people to join the Jacobites. They were sent to London as prisoners along with the Reverend John Grant, minister of Urquhart. Ludovick asserted to the Duke of Newcastle that the minister ‘was at all their consultations and never attempted to dissuade the people from joining the rebells, but on the contrary gave over praying for his Majesty, and after the battle of Culloden he concealed some of the rebells and had their money in keeping.... Mr. Grant concealed from me where three of the rebells were hid by his direction....’[89]
The reader will find the minister’s own story in the text, and must judge of its truth. Perhaps Grant protests too much, for Mr. Mackay informs me that the tradition of the parish is that he was a thorough Jacobite. It is perfectly evident, however, that the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General thought lightly of the case both against the minister and young Sheugly, or they would never have remitted them to the court at Edinburgh, when it was notorious that no Scottish jury would convict a Jacobite.
The prisoners, on December 4th, ‘sisted [surrendered] themselves in court [at Edinburgh] to answer for alleadged Rebellion and all such matters as on his Majesty’s behalf should be objected against them.’[90] They were admitted to bail and there the matter ended.
The Presbytery records show that no ecclesiastical proceedings were taken against the minister, though probably that does not mean much. At that time it may well be believed that every minister and elder in the Highlands sympathised with the hunted Jacobites. The only minister of the Church of Scotland who was dealt with for disloyalty in the ’Forty-five was Thomas Man, minister of Dunkeld. He was tried before the Commission of General Assembly in May 1747. The libel against him was found relevant, and the charges partly confessed or found proven. The sentence was gentle—five months’ suspension from his duties.[91]
The manuscript of this case is preserved in the Record Office.
GROSSETT’S MEMORIAL AND ACCOUNTS
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]