Francis Grant

Executors of Francis Grant were awarded the compensation for the Blackness Estate in Westmoreland Jamaica. This is Francis Grant of Kilgraston, whose brother John had been Chief Justice of Jamaica 1783-1790 and whom Francis Grant succeeded in 1793. Francis Grant's grand-daughter Annie Grant, the daughter of John Grant of Kilgraston, married John Brooke Johnson-Brooke, the heir apparent, later disinherited, of the first White Rajah of Sarawak. Possibly the Francis Grant who was active as a slave-factor at Montego Bay 1789-1792.

1. Francis Grant born to Beatrix Grant and Patrick/Peter Grant on 09/04/1746 and baptised 13/04/1746.

2. Francis Grant of Kilgraston m. Anne Oliphant.

3. Will of Francis Grant of Kilgraston Perthshire proved 21/11/1818. In the will [made in 1815] he placed in trust (his trustees included his wife Ann formerly Oliphant) his property including Blackness estate in Westmoreland to secure an annuity of £500 p.a. to his wife over and above the annuity of £500 p.a. already settled on her, and to secure £10,000 for his children.

4. Grant's children with Anne Oliphant included Francis Grant (1803-1878), portrait and sporting painter and President of the Royal Academy in 1866 (when he was also knighted) and General Sir James Hope Grant (1808–1875), army officer.

We are grateful to Anita Steele for her assistance in compiling this entry.

T71/871 Westmoreland No. 82. His purchase of Kilgraston in 1785-1786 is described by Stephanie Barczewski, Country Houses and the British Empire, 1700-1930 (2014) p. 75.

1. Scotland's People: Old Parish Registers Births 090/A.

2. Burke's Commoners Vol 2 p. 613 'Grant of Kilgraston'.

3. PROB 11/1610/170.

4. Both Francis and James have entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.