Collection search - Francis Augustus Grant collection [textual record]
-
Hierarchy 
Francis Augustus Grant collection [textual record]
Hierarchical level:CollectionContext of this record:Collection includes:1 lower level description(s)View lower level description(s) -
Finding aid Textual records: (Paper) The finding aid is a descriptive list of the original letters and other documents in the bound volume. MSS2154Textual records: (Electronic) Finding aid. MSS2154
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000675.pdf(Electronic) All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available at the following address: (90: Open)
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_100861 -
Record information Francis Augustus Grant collection [textual record]
Date:1842-1854.Reference:R4675-0-9-E, MG24-A53Type of material:Textual materialFound in:Archives / Collections and FondsItem ID number:100861Date(s):1842-1854.Place of creation:Québec (Province)Extent:8 cm of textual records.Language of material:EnglishScope and content:Collection consists of 85 letters, which had been bound together, and written by F.A. Grant to various members of his family in Scotland while he served as an aide-de-camp to the Governor General in Canada and as a military officer with the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders) in Canada, Great Britain, and the Crimea. Topics included in the correspondence are: military drills, camps and leisure pursuits such as hunting, fancy dress balls and horse racing. Modes of transportation and weather conditions, which contrast sharply with those in Scotland, are described. Grant's activities as an aide-de-camp including a tour of the Great Lakes, the Rebellion Losses Act, and the resulting Montreal riots are also described. In the Crimea, Grant describes the conditions of war, the illnesses and the cholera epidemic. These records are available as photocopies or on microfilm, reel A-2950.
Sketches appear in some of the letters and were used to entertain and inform his readers about concepts with which they were unfamiliar. In that respect, there are sketches of Indian camps, sleighs, toboggans, Niagara Falls and various forms of hunting. The collection also contains a genealogical table, an ode written by John Grant to honour the memory of his deceased son, F.A. Grant, and a printed despatch from Lord Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to Elgin, concerning Elgin's actions with respect to an address which he received that favoured annexation of Canada to the United States. These records are available as photocopies and on microfilm, reel H-2950.
An additional four letters to his brother Charley and his mother, 1848-1850, describe his life as an aide-de-camp, his tour with the Governor General to the Great Lakes and their meeting with Indian chiefs. These four letters are available as photocopies but were not microfilmed.
A typescript of a letter to his father, John Grant, is located in volume 1. Photocopies of all 89 letters and other items are located in volume 2. The original letters and other items are located in volume 3. (A photocopy of the typescript letter is also found in volume 2; the original of the typescript letter is found in volume 3.)Provenance:Biography/Administrative history:Grant, Francis Augustus, 1829-1854 : Francis Augustus Grant, military officer and artist, was born on 24 February 1829, in the county of Perth, Scotland, the eldest son of John Grant and his second wife, Lady Lucy Bruce, daughter of Thomas, the 7th Earl of Elgin. The father, John Grant, was the eldest son of Francis Grant and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Oliphant of Rossie, postmaster general of Scotland. John Grant succeeded his father Francis Grant as laird of Kilgraston upon the death of Francis Grant in 1819.
F.A. Grant was one of seven sons and six daughters of whom the following are noted: Charles Grant, R.N., born in 1831, Mary Grant, (1831-1908), Arthur Grant, R.N., born in 1832, Lucy, Matilda, Charlotte, Annie, Ludovick and Alaric. Another sister, Margaret, was the daughter of John Grant and his first wife, Hon. Margaret Gray. Their residence was Kilgraston House, Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, purchased by an ancestor, John Grant, chief justice of Jamaica.
F.A. Grant joined the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders), with the rank of Ensign on 11 June 1847, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 26 July 1850. On 7 June 1848, the regiment, including Grant, embarked on board HMS Resistance at Gibraltar for Canada under Lieutenant-Colonel Lauderdale Maule, arriving at Quebec on 27 July. On 28 July, the regiment disembarked and occupied the Citadel Barracks.
In October 1848, by General Order, Ensign Grant was appointed as an aide-de-camp to his uncle, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, the Governor General of the Province of Canada. This appointment was unsuccessfully opposed by the commanding officer of his regiment. In his role as aide-de-camp, Grant vigorously defended Lord Elgin's record on the Rebellion Losses Act and Responsible Government.
The 79th Regiment returned to Scotland in 1851. The regiment, including Grant, embarked for Turkey in 1854 in consequence of the declaration of war with Russia on 1 March 1854. On 1 October 1854, Lieutenant F.A. Grant, who had just been selected to succeed Captain Adam Maitland as Adjutant, died of cholera after only twelve hours' illness.
The Grant family contained a number of talented artists including F.A. Grant who executed views and genre in water colour and in pen and ink. His uncle, Sir Francis Grant (1803-1878), fourth son of Francis Grant, gained renown as a painter of hunting scenes and of portraits. Sir Francis Grant also served as President of the Royal Academy of Arts. F.A. Grant's sister, Mary, was a sculptor who exhibited at the Royal Academy. John Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, volume II, published in 1977 by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore.
Historical Records of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 2 volumes, published by William Blackwood and Sons at Edinburgh and London in 1909.
The Dictionary of National Biography, New York, 1908.Additional information:General note:A typescript of a letter from F.A. Grant to his father John Grant, dated 1 May 1849 was copied from the original held by J.B. Fielding of Prestonkirk, Scotland.
A bound volume of letters and other documents was presented by Mrs. Goodith Heeney and her brother, Mr. Geoffrey Fielding, in 1998.
Four additional letters from Francis Augustus Grant to his brother and mother were presented by Mrs. Goodith Heeney in 1999.
The microfilm reel may be borrowed through the inter-institutional loan service offered by the National Archives of Canada. Information about our loan service may be found on the website of the Archives. Loans must be requested by institutions participating in the loan service on behalf of a client and must specify the microfilm reel number.Source of title:Title based on content of collection.Custodial history:Letters written by F.A. Grant to members of his family in Scotland were gathered together posthumously by his sister Lucy and placed in a bound volume so that the letters could be circulated among family members. Over the years, some letters were detached from the binding and were presumably retained by family members.Associated material note:A copy of one of Grant's private letters to his family describing the riots following the passage of the Rebellion Losses Act is located at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia., The McCord Museum, Montreal, houses three of F.A. Grant's drawings. One of them is entitled "Crossing the St. Lawrence on the Ice at Montreal". Created between the years 1849 and 1852, they were purchased by the museum and catalogued in 1990.Accruals:No further accruals are expected.Related material:One of Grant's drawings entitled "British Soldiers at Quebec in Winter", is available in the Lande collection, accession no. 1973-9, Visual and Sound Archives Division. The drawing was created in 1850 while Grant was stationed at Quebec.Subject heading:Source:PrivateFormer archival reference no.:MG24-A53 -
Ordering and viewing options Conditions of access:Textual records[Consultation Open]Volume [MG24 A 53][Consultation Open]2--3;[Consultation Open]1/X1--1/X2;[Consultation Open]Finding aid box [FA 2154] 154[Consultation Closed]Microfilm reel H-2950[Consultation Open]Terms of use:letters: Because of the fragile nature of the original letters and other documents in volume 3, researchers are asked to consult the photocopies of these documents in volume 2. While there are no restrictions on the preparation of photocopies of the documents in volume 2, no photocopies are permitted of the original documents in volume 3. Researchers wishing to have copies of the original documents are requested to ask for photographs of them.You can order materials in advance to be ready for you when you visit. You will need a user card to do this.
Cannot visit us on site? You can purchase a copy to be sent to you. Some restrictions may apply.
