on his appointment as an ordinary lord of session and a lord of justiciary in the place of Patrick Grant, lord Elchies. He took his seat on the bench on 14 Nov. 1754, and assumed the title of Lord Prestongrange. In the following year he was appointed one of the commissioners for the annexed estates. Grant died at Bath on 23 May 1764, aged 63, and was buried on 7 June following in the aisle of Prestonpans Church, Haddingtonshire, where a monument in the churchyard was erected to his memory. Tytler speaks highly of his integrity, candour, and 'winning gentleness,' and says that his 'conduct in the adjustment of the claims on the forfeited estates merited universal approbation' (Memoirs of Lord Kames, 1814, i. 57). With the exception of the proceedings at the trial of Stewart in 1752 (Howell, State Trials, 1813, xix. 1-262), Grant's conduct as public prosecutor was both fair and moderate. Grant married Grizel, daughter of the Rev. — Millar, and by her had four daughters: Janet, who married John, fourth earl of Hyndford; Agnes, who married Sir George Suttie, bart., of Balgone; Jean, who married Robert Dundas of Arniston, the second lord president of that name; and Christian, who died unmarried in 1761. On the death of the Countess of Hyndford in 1818, her nephew, Sir James Suttie, succeeded to the Preston-Grange estate (purchased by Grant in 1746), and assumed the additional surname of Grant. Grant's widow survived him many years, and died in 1792, aged 83. There is an engraving by J. McArdell, after the portrait of Grant by Ramsay, painted in 1751. Grant is said to have written 'The occasional Writer, containing an Answer to the second Manifesto of the Pretender's eldest Son, which bears date at the Palace of Holyrood House, 10 Oct. 1745; containing Reflections, political and historical, upon the last Revolution, and the Progress of the present Rebellion in Scotland,' London, 1745, 8vo. The authorship of this pamphlet has, however, also been ascribed to Thomas Hollis (Halkett and Laing, vol. iii. 1797).
[Omond's Lord Advocates of Scotland (1883), ii. 28-58; Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice (1832), pp. 518-20; Allardyce's Scotland and Scotsmen (1888), i. 121-7; Anderson's Scottish Nation (1863), ii. 364; Burke's Peerage, &c. (1886), pp. 610-11. 1306; Foster's Members of Parliament of Scotland (1882), p. 162; Scots Mag. (1746), viii. 245-6 (1749), xi. 303 (1755), xvii. 212 (1764), xxvi. 291; Rogers's Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland (1871), pp. 212-13; Official Return of Lists of Members of Parliament. pt. ii. pp.96, 107, 121; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
GRANT, WILLIAM (d. 1786), physician, a native of Scotland, graduated M.D. at Aberdeen in 1755, and became licentiate of the London College of Physicians in 1763. He practised in the city of London with success, and was physician to the Misericordia Hospital, Goodman's Fields. He died in Edinburgh, 30 Dec. 1786. His writings include: 1. ‘An Inquiry into … the Fevers most common in London,’ 1771 ; French translation, 1773. 2. ‘Observations … on Fevers,’ 1772; 3rd ed. 1779. 3. ‘An Essay on the … Fever … commonly called Jail … Fever,’ 1775; German translation, 1778. 4. ‘Account of the Epidemic Cough and Fever,’ 1776. 5. ‘Account of a Fever and Sorethroat in London,’ 1777. 6. ‘Observations on the Atrabilious Temperament and Gout,’ 1779-81. 7. ‘Observations on the Influenza of 1775 and 1782,’ 1783.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. ii. 256.]
GRANT, Sir WILLIAM (1752–1832), master of the rolls, was born at Elchies on the banks of the Spey on 13 Oct. 1752. His father, James Grant, was a small farmer in Morayshire, and afterwards became collector of the customs in the Isle of Man. Upon the death of his parents Grant was taken care of by his uncle, a wealthy London merchant. He was educated at the grammar school at Elgin, and at King's College, Aberdeen, and after studying the civil law at Leyden University for two years was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn on 30 Jan. 1769. He was called to the bar on 3 Feb. 1774, and in the following year sailed to Canada, where he arrived in time to command a body of volunteers during the siege of Quebec. Grant was appointed attorney-general of Canada on 10 May 1776, and remained there a few years. Upon his return to England he first joined the western and afterwards the home circuit, but obtained so little success that he contemplated returning to Canada. In consequence of Lord Thurloe's advice he abandoned the common law bar for the equity courts. In an interview with Pitt, who was then preparing a bill for the regulation of Canada, Grant made a great impression upon the prime minister, by whom he was ultimately induced to enter parliament. At the general election in June 1790 Grant was returned as one of the members for the borough of Shaftesbury, and on 15 April 1791 made his maiden speech in the House of Commons, when he opposed the resolutions condemning the armament against Russia (Parl. Hist. xxix. 237-40). In the following month he spoke on the Quebec Government Bill, giving a lucid explanation
