Sir Alexander Cray Grant 8th Bart.

30th Nov 1782 - 29th Nov 1854

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

  1. Born 30 November 1782 at Bowring's Leigh, Devon. Eldest son of Sir Alexander Grant, 7th bt. (d. 1825), and his wife, Sarah, the daughter and heir of Jeremiah Cray of Ibsley, Hampshire. Became 8th bt. on death of his father, 26 July 1825. Heir to Jamaican plantations with 1,200 enslaved & a partner in a London West India agency. Member of the Jamaican colonial assembly, 1810-1811. Subsequently (1812-43) MP. On return to England, 1812, recommended by Andrew Cochrane Johnstone to  William Beckford, as a person to take charge of Beckford's Jamaican estates. Continued as active and prominent planter in Jamaica though he never returned there after 1812. As an MP an active spokesman for planter interests; slavery had been 'forced' on them by Britain; blamed emancipation and increased sugar duty for decline of income from his estates. Prominent Tory. Member of the Carlton Club and 'a close associate' of Peel. (Oxford DNB). Member of the Board of Control (of the East India Company) 1834; 1843-1854 a commissioner for public accounts, with a salary of £1,200. Never married.

  2. Member of the West India Committee and the 'Committee of April 25, 1823' formed to press the government for ameliorationist measures for the Crown colonies and to resist moves towards emancipation.


Sources

  1. Entry by John C. Appleby, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; R. G. Thorne (ed.), The House of Commons, 1790-1820 (5 vols., London, Secker & Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust, 1986), vol. 4.

  2. Alexandra Franklin, Enterprise and advantage: The West India interest in Britain, 1774-1840 (University of Pennsylvania, Unpub. PhD, 1992), p. 214 citing West India Committee Minute Books, 25 April 1823.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Name in compensation records
Sir Alexander C. Grant
Will

See TNA: PRO, PROB 11/2204, sig. 30, vol. 1

University
St John's, Cambridge [?-1806 (MA) ]
Occupation
Planter
Oxford DNB Entry

Associated Claims (4)

£3,294 14s 9d
Awardee
£6,103 18s 10d
Awardee
£2,790 2s 1d
Awardee (Owner-in-fee)
£1,808 8s 0d
Awardee (Owner-in-fee)

Associated Estates (8)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1826 [SY] - → Owner
1825 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Owner
1826 [EA] - 1829 [LA] → Lessee (Enslaved)
1826 [EA] - 1831 [LA] → Owner
1830 [EA] - → Owner

1831 Jamaica Almanac was based on the givings in from the 1830 March Quarter hence the earlier evolution date.

1831 [SY] - 1834 [LA] → Owner
1825 [SY] - 1834 [LA] → Owner
- 1834 [LA] → Other

Legacies Summary

Imperial (1)

East India Company
Administrative  
notes →
Member of the Board of Control of the East India Company in...

Political (1)

MP
Conservative / West India interest 
election →
Tregony Cornwall
1812 - 1818
election →
Lostwithiel Cornwall
1818 - 1826
election →
Aldborough Yorkshire
1826 - 1830
election →
Westbury Wiltshire
1830 - 1831
election →
Cambridge Cambridgeshire
1840 - 1843

Relationships (2)

Brothers
Notes →
Robert Innes succeeded his brother and became 9th...
Son → Father

Addresses (3)

Bowringsleigh, Devon, Devon and Cornwall, England
16 Grosvenor Street, London, Middlesex, London, England
32 Pall Mall, London, Middlesex, London, England