Grant, James (1822-1887).—Novelist, was the s. of an officer in the army, in which he himself served for a short time. He wrote upwards of 50 novels in a brisk, breezy style, of which the best known are perhaps The Romance of War (1845), Adventures of an Aide-de-Camp, Frank Hilton, Bothwell, Harry Ogilvie, and The Yellow Frigate. He also wrote biographies of Kirkcaldy of Grange, Montrose, and others which, however, are not always trustworthy from an historical point of view.
Grant, James Augustus (1827-1892).—Traveller, was an officer in the army, and was sent by the Royal Geographical Society along with Captain John Hanning Speke (1827-1864), to search for the equatorial lakes of Africa. Grant wrote A Walk across Africa, The Botany of the Speke and Grant Expedition, and Khartoum as I saw it in 1863. Speke wrote Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1863), and What led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1864).
Grattan, Thomas Colley (1792-1864).—Miscellaneous writer, b. in Dublin, and ed. for the law, but did not practise. He wrote a few novels, including The Heiress of Bruges (4 vols., 1830); but his best work was Highways and Byways, a description of his Continental wanderings, of which he pub. three series. He also wrote a history of the Netherlands and books on America. He was for some time British Consul at Boston, U.S.
Gray, David (1838-1861).—Poet, s. of a hand-loom weaver at Kirkintilloch, Dumbartonshire. He gave early promise at school, was destined for the service of the Church, and was for 4 years at Glasgow Univ. while he maintained himself by teaching. His first poems appeared in the Glasgow Citizen. In 1860, however, he went with his friend Robert Buchanan to London, where he soon fell into consumption. He was befriended by Mr. Monckton Milnes, afterwards Lord Houghton, but after a sojourn in the South of England, returned home to die. His chief poem, The Luggie (the river of his birthplace) contains much beautiful description; but his genius reached its highest expression in a series of 30 sonnets written in full view of an early death and blighted hopes, and bearing the title, In the Shadow. They breathe a spirit of the deepest, melancholy unrelieved by hope.
Gray, Thomas (1716-1771).—Poet, was b. in London, the s. of a scrivener, who, though described as "a respectable citizen," was of so cruel and violent a temper that his wife had to separate from him. To his mother and her sister, who carried on a business, G. was indebted for his liberal education at Eton (where he became a friend of Horace Walpole), and Camb. After completing his Univ. course he accompanied Walpole to France and Italy, where he spent over two years, when a difference arising G. returned to England, and went back to Camb. to take his degree in law without, however, any intention of practising. He remained at Camb. for the rest of his life, passing his time in the study of the classics, natural science, and antiquities, and in visits to his friends, of whom Walpole was again one. It was in 1747 that his first poem, the Ode on a Distant
