James became a game keeper on Lord Rosebery's estate at Rosebery, Temple, The family lived on the estate. He was nearly killed when poachers shot at him. He bent over at that moment and the bullets grazed his back. There was an article in the paper saying that the poachers had been hanged.
When James died, Lord Roseberywanted to move wife Agnes to the "Bothy house" but daughter Agnes, who was Nanny to Lord Haldane's family asked him to intervene and Agnes was given a better cottage where she lived until she died. There is the original description of the trial and hanging of the poachers in the Grosset folder.
Birth: OPR for Liberton: James, lawful son of Ebenezer Grossert and Jane Shiels was born at Middlemains on 9/4/1843 and baptised 27/4/1843 before the congregation at Liberton.
Marriage: On 10 apr 1868 at Leadburn after banns as per UP church, James Grosset, Gamekeeper, bach, age 14y, of Rosebery, Temple son of Ebenezer Grosset, blacksmith,dec and Jane Shields: to Agnes Dalgleish, housekeeper, spinster, age 22y of Leadburn, Penicuik, daughter of Thomas Dalgleish, farmer and Agnes scott. Witnesses Adam Grosset and Janet Dalgleish.
Death: 1897. death; James Grosset, head gamekeeper age 53y married to Agnes Scott Laidlaw Dalgleish died at Rosebery, parish of Temple 31/1/1897. Parents Ebenezer Grosset, master blacksmith, dec and Jane Shiel, dec. died of intestinal obstruction. Notified by son James Grosset,36 Balfour St, Leith. Inscription on gravestone reads: In loving memory of James Grosset who died 31/1/1897 age 54y for 32 years gamekeeper at Rosebery. Also Agnes Dalgleish widow of above James Grosset who died at Rosebery 14/10/1922 in her 78th year.

1881 census of Temple ,Midlothian.
In the Keeper's Cottage , Rosebury Estate. 3 rooms with 1 or more windows.
James Grosset/Head/M/37/gamekeeper/b Liberton
Agnes/Wf/M/35 /b Temple
James/S/14/Sch/b Penicuik
Agnes/D/12/ b Temple
Enenezer/S/9/ b Temple
Jessie J/D/7/ b Temple
Alexander/S/4/ b Temple
From "Scottish Memories" April 2001
Under a Poacher's Moon
George Forbes looks back on how a nocturnal foray for game went fatally wrong.
A certain amount of high spirits and a celebration of the sporting instincts have :often gone into tales of wily poachersavoiding eagle-eyed gamekeepers; while miscreants going out with their guns to bag 'one for the pot' have traditionally beentreated with a dash of benevolent levity.
But there was definitely nothing flippantabout the grim events which took place onLord Roseberry's hunting estate below theverdant slopes of the Moorfoot Hills, a fewmiles south ofEdinburgh on the wintry night of 15thDecember, 1883.
The key climatic point about that nightwas that it was clear and frosty with a fullmoon shining in a starlit sky. The latter phenomenon was sometimes known as 'a poacher's moon'; and thatcertainly proved to be the case with two disreputable local miners calledRobert Vickers and William Innes.
They stayed in the large mining village ofGorebridge, a few miles from the woods ofthe Roseberry estate; and, though theyworked in the local colliery, they were also renowned for supplementing their incomewith a little poaching on the side.
Because of these illicit exploits, which had resulted in a few terms behind bars, their faces were well-known to the gamekeepers of the area, a fact which was to have a fatal significance.
For the pair had decided to take advantageof the splendid nocturnal conditions to mount a raid on the Roseberry estate and bag some festive fare, for the tables ofthemselves and their friends, just ten days before Christmas.
And it was for exactly this same reason -the perfect hunting conditions - that the head gamekeeper of the estate and his two assistants were on full alert for poachers; and, in fact, had decided to go out looking for this human prey which they correctly guessed would be on the prowl in the shadows on that ideal night.
And, sure enough, around 3 a.m., the gamekeepers crept up on the two poachers who had been Iying in the heather, priming their guns.
Because of the bright moonlight,everyone could see what was going on andidentification was instant and accurate.
The head gamekeeper, James Grosset,called on Vickers and Innes, who he knew well from their past depredations, to surrender peacefully. But to his horror; he heard Vickers yell at Innes, "Take that one on the left - and I'll do for him on the right!"
The two poachers then blasted off theirshotguns at point-blank range and, in the clear visibility, could not help but hit the two assistant gamekeepers, John Fortune and John McDiarmid, who stood on either side of Grosset.
As the two men crashed to the ground withsickening thuds, mortally wounded, and the poachers feverishly began to reload theirshotguns, Grosset, who was unarmed, went charging off into the undergrowth withVickers' snarl echoing in his ears," Quick,don't let him get away - we'll catch him atthe bridge!"
Grosset, racing for his life through the woods, dodging tree trunks in the fleeting dark as best he could, knew they meant the bridge which spanned the South Esk; so, with every second expecting a shotgun blastin his back, he deliberately took a detour and arrived, breathless and exhausted, at Edgelaw Farm where he hammered on the stout wooden door.
The farmer, a Mr. Simpson, came slowlyand warily in his nightclothes, holding aloft a lantern, to answer the desperate summons: but when he heard what had happened, he quickly dressed, packed Grosset into a ponyand trap and the pair of them trotted off as fast possible to the nearest police station which was in Gorebridge.
The duty sergeant quickly summoned reinforcements and a search party was despatched back to the Roseberry estate to find and retrieve the two badly wounded gamekeepers.
They were rushed to Edinburgh Royal infirmary but died a few hours later. However, even in their critical conditions, they were able to make last,brief statements that were duly noted downto be used in evidence.
The police then went to the houses of the men named by Grosset and found them in their beds, supposedly freshly wakened from their peaceful slumbers. Their pleas of innocence were disregarded and they were dragged down to the local police station and charged with two counts of murder.
Despite feelings running high in the area and a plea from their defence counsel that the proceedings be switched to another part ofthe country, they both stood in the dock at Edinburgh High Court on Match 10th, 1884, before Lord Young. Their defence was a complete denial that they had ever left their homes on the nightin question.
But Grosset's unflinching identification (again thanks to that full moon) was damning as were the last statements of the victims who had also named both accused. The jury took only 49 minutes to find both Vickers and Innes guilty.
It was around 8 p.m. when the jurytrooped back into court and Lord Young said he heartily concurred with their verdict before he placed the black cap on his wig and passed sentences of death on both men, to be carried out at Calton Jail on the 31st of March.
A week after their conviction the two men retracted their pleas of innocence and admitted shooting the assistant gamekeepers, though they claimed they did it in a blind panic, allegedly because theycould not face the prospect of going back to prison for what, because of their past records, would have been protracted terms.
Perhaps they had been misled into believing that these belated confessions would save their lives because, for some reason (possibly an overoptimistic defence counsel), the pair thought a last minute reprieve would come through and their death sentences would be commuted - but it wasnot to be.
On the morning of the execution, a densecrowd gathered outside the main prison gateand also on Calton Hill. The tightly packed mob grew restless as eight o'clock came and went with no signal that the executions had taken place. Could the prisoners have been right intheir hopes about a reprieve? But then, at twelve minutes past the hour,the black flag was slowly run halfway up the prison flagstaff, proclaiming to all and sundry who beheld it that the Gorebridge poachers had indeed gone to their doom.
The delay had possibly been caused by hangman James Berry whose first execution this was even though, along with an assistant, he had spent four days at the jail, practising with sandbags, to make sure he could perform this fi rst difficult 'double event' swiftly and efficiency.
The crowd were certainly pleased enough with the final outcome, cheering and tossing their hats in the air, before dispersing and going about their various daily chores or recreations.