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.
