Captain Francis Grant-Gordon (née Grant)

In 1770, Francis Grant Gordon had granted a bond of £6000 to Sir Willoughby Aston and Thomas Pye, Vice Admiral, to secure an annuity of £200 p.a. to Mary Grant Gordon. On Francis Grant Gordon's death, Sir Willoughby Aston went to court in Antigua to gain a judgement on the bond (presumably to secure it against the plantation). The enslaved persons went to Mary Grant Gordon in lieu of the annuity.

1. Francis Grant, son of William Grant and Barbara, youngest daughter of George Gordon of Knockspock. Born in 1730, joined the navy in 1747, transferred to half pay in January 1769. Given 12 months leave 08/05/1774 "on private affairs to Antigua and Leeward Islands". Back in charge of the Argo 21/05/1775 and serving in the Leeward Islands in October of that year. Married Mary, daughter of Sir Willoughby Aston and his wife Elizabeth Pye in Petersham, Surrey, 18/09/1770 when he was "of Harrow, Middlesex". Their children included Sir James Willoughby-Gordon (1773-1851) and Jane Eliza (d. 09/09/1865).

2. Francis Grant assumed the name Gordon in 1768 following a legacy from his maternal uncle James Gordon of Moor Place, Herts, as did his cousin James Brebner Gordon ne Brebner (q.v.). Gales estate in Antigua was devised in trust for Francis by James Gordon in 1766; Francis's son James Willoughby Gordon owned Gales in 1806.

3. In 1817 40 enslaved people and in 1821 37 enslaved people were registered by Walter Murray executor to the estate of Francis Grant Gordon decd.

T71/877 Antigua claim no. 1051.

1. Constance Oliver Skelton and John Malcolm Bulloch, Gordons Under Arms. A Biographical Muster Roll of officers named Gordon in the Navies and armies of Britain, Europe, America and in the Jacobite Risings (Aberdeen, The University Press, 1907) pp. 100-101. Vere Langford Oliver, The History of the island of Antigua ... from the first settlement in 1635 to the present time (3 vols., London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894-99), Vol. 3 pp. 384 and 425. Ancestry.com, Surrey, England, Marriages, 1754-1937 [database online].

2. Oliver, History of Antigua, Vol. 3 p. 384.

3. T71/245 pp. 518-519; T71/246 pp. 474-475.