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'''John Grant''' (c.1720–1804) was a British [[nabob]] of the [[East India Company]] service, known as a Member of Parliament of the 1780s and banker.<ref name="HoP">{{cite web |last1=Namier |first1=Lewis |title=Grant, John (c.1720-1804), of Waltham Place, Berks. |url=http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1754-1790/member/grant-john-1720-1804 |website=histparl.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wylie |first1=David T. |title=Bengal Past And Present |volume=37-38 |date=1929 |page=119 |chapter=A Nabob and his Friends: Major John Grant, M.P. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32676/page/n337/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Early life==
He was the third son in the family of seven sons and three daughters of the Rev. John Grant, parish priest of [[Nolton and Roch]] in [[Pembrokeshire]].<ref name="HoP"/><ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=130039 |name=Grant, John |year1=1767 |year2=1767 |accessed=19 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name="Wylie125">{{cite book |last1=Wylie |first1=David T. |title=Bengal Past And Present |volume=37-38 |date=1929 |page=125 |chapter=A Nabob and his Friends: Major John Grant, M.P. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32676/page/n343/mode/1up}}</ref> Of his sisters, Elizabeth married the Rev. Benjamin Hall of Llandaff and was mother of [[Benjamin Hall (industrialist)|Benjamin Hall]];<ref>{{cite web |title=Hall, Benjamin, 1778-1817 |url=https://collections.westminster.org.uk/index.php/hall-benjamin-1778-1817 |website=collections.westminster.org.uk}}</ref> and Margaret married the surgeon George Elliot of Laugharne and was mother of [[John Elliot (brewer)|John Elliot]].<ref name="Wylie125"/>

==Periods in British India==
Grant was twice in India. On his first visit he was initially a regimental surgeon for the [[East India Company]].<ref name="HoP"/>

Grant went to India in 1759 with the fleet conveying [[Eyre Coote (East India Company officer)|Eyre Coote]] and the [[84th Regiment of Foot (1759)|84th Regiment of Foot]]. He travelled with his brother Henry on the Indiaman ''Lennox'', as a volunteer. He was given a surgeon's mate position with the 84th.<ref name="HoP"/><ref name="Wylie124">{{cite book |last1=Wylie |first1=David T. |title=Bengal Past And Present |volume=37-38 |date=1929 |page=124 |chapter=A Nabob and his Friends: Major John Grant, M.P. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32676/page/n342/mode/1up}}</ref> Coote returned to Great Britain in 1762.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=6243|first=G. J.|last=Bryant|title=Coote, Sir Eyre (1726–1783)}}</ref> Grant took part in the Bengal campaign of [[Thomas Adams (British Army officer)|Thomas Adams]] on behalf of [[Mir Jafar]], against the usurper Nawab [[Mir Qasim]].<ref name="HoP"/> By then a lieutenant, he was secretary to Adams and a military engineer at the [[Battle of Giria, 1763]]. He also took part in the [[Battle of Buxar]] the following year, with the [[Bengal Army]] under [[Hector Munro, 8th Laird of Novar|Hector Munro]]. He was promoted to captain, resigned and returned to Great Britain c.1765.<ref name="Wylie124"/>

Grant made a later visit of 1769–1771, in association with Coote who had a second spell as East India Company commander-in-chief from 1769, during which Grant acted as his secretary.<ref name="Wylie124"/><ref name="ODNB"/> Grant was accompanied by his sister Ann. He had family motivations: to promote the military career of his brother Cornelius, and to find Ann a husband.<ref name="Wylie120">{{cite book |last1=Wylie |first1=David T. |title=Bengal Past And Present |volume=37-38 |date=1929 |page=120 |chapter=A Nabob and his Friends: Major John Grant, M.P. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32676/page/n338/mode/1up}}</ref> Ann Grant married Capt. David McKenzie at Calcutta in 1771.<ref name="Wylie125"/> Grant had military standing from an [[acting rank]] of Major, limited to the [[East Indies]] and restricted from the command of troops; his later use of the title Major was therefore [[self-proclaimed]].<ref name="Wylie120"/>

==Banker==
[[File:Waltham Place - geograph.org.uk - 2433269.jpg|thumb|Waltham Place, 2010 photograph]]
Returning from India in the 1770s, Grant joined the Pybus & Co. bank of [[Old Bond Street]], London.<ref name="HoP"/> Its founder John Pybus (1728–1789) had been an East India Company writer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dulm |first1=Frits van |title="Zonder eigen gewinne en glorie": Mr. Iman Wilhelm Falck (1736-1785), gouverneur en directeur van Ceylon en Onderhorigheden |date=2012 |publisher=Uitgeverij Verloren |isbn=978-90-8704-273-8 |page=183 note 245 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdvSAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |language=nl}}</ref> The partners included others with a British India background, such as [[John Call]]. The bank was in existence from 1773 to 1865, and became known as Call, Marten & Co.<ref>{{cite web |title=Call, Marten & Co |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG113994 |website=britishmuseum.org}}</ref>

Grant also bought the country house Waltham Place at [[White Waltham]], in 1776.<ref name="HoP"/> He was [[High Sheriff of Berkshire]] in 1780.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=John Lamplow |title=A guide to the magistracy and lieutenancy of Berks |date=1855 |publisher=Rusher and Johnson |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOQGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA54 |language=en}}</ref> Waltham Place had belonged to [[James Theobald (natural historian)|James Theobald]] the elder, who changed its name from Hill House and died in 1759; his son James Theobald the younger sold it in 1773 to the Rev. William Reid. Grant bought it from Reid.<ref name="MB">{{cite book |last1=Lysons |first1=Daniel |last2=Lysons |first2=Samuel |title=Magna Britannia;: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire |date=1806 |publisher=T. Cadell and W. Davies |page=406 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3kgAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA406 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=House of Commons |title=Journals of the House of Commons |date=1804 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |page=225|volume=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBlDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA225 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ditchfield |first1=Peter Hampson |last2=Page |first2=William |title=The Victoria History of Berkshire |date=1923 |publisher=Constable |page=174|volume=3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Court of Chancery |last2=Beavan |first2=Charles |title=Report of Cases in Chancery: Argued and Determined in the Rolls Court During the Time of Lord Landale, Master of the Rolls, 1838-1866 |date=1853 |publisher=Saunders and Benning |page=148|volume=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=av0vAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA148 |language=en}}</ref>

==In politics==
In 1780 Grant took an interest in the borough of [[Cricklade (UK Parliament constituency)|Cricklade]], which had once wooed [[Robert Clive]], and where [[Robert Fletcher (East India Company officer)|Robert Fletcher]], son-in-law of John Pybus, had been the Member of Parliament for six years. With [[Paul Benfield]] standing, nothing came of it for Grant.<ref name="HoP"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Cricklade 1754-1790, History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1754-1790/constituencies/cricklade |website=www.histparl.ac.uk}}</ref> In the [[1784 British general election|1784 general election]] he was a candidate at [[Fowey (UK Parliament constituency)|Fowey]], where the two seats traditionally were split between the Edgcumbe and Rashleigh families. That year [[Philip Rashleigh (1729–1811)|Philip Rashleigh]] was a sitting member, while [[Molyneux Shuldham]], a naval officer who supported [[Lord North]] and [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]], stood down.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fowey 1754-1790, History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1754-1790/constituencies/fowey |website=www.histparl.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Shuldham, Molyneux (c.1717-98). |url=https://www.https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/shuldham-molyneux-1717-98/volume/1754-1790/member/shuldham-molyneux-1717-98 |website=historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/shuldham-molyneux-1717-98}}</ref> Grant was brought in, and kept out the Whig [[George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth|Lord Lewisham]] who came in third.<ref name="Courtney">{{cite book |last1=Courtney |first1=William Prideaux |title=The Parliamentary Representation of Cornwall to 1832 |date=1889 |publisher=private circulation |page=1808 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wN1SAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA108 |language=en}}</ref>

Grant, as expected by the Tory political manager [[John Robinson (Harwich MP)|John Robinson]] who paid the Edgcumbes for his place, supported [[William Pitt the Younger]] in parliament.<ref name="HoP"/> He was asked in 1786 by the family to make way for [[Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe|Richard Edgcumbe]], who had [[coming of age|turned 21]] and so was eligible to stand for parliament. He resigned "with the best grace he could display", applying for the [[List of stewards of the Manor of East Hendred|stewardship of the Manor of East Hendred]].<ref name="Courtney"/>

==Family==
Grant was twice married:

#Firstly in 1767, to Alicia Gilbert (died 1785), daughter of the Rev. Robert Gilbert D.D., canon of Salisbury Cathedral; <ref name="HoP"/>
#Secondly in 1788, to Charlotte Bouverie, daughter of [[Jacob Bouverie, 1st Viscount Folkestone]].<ref name="HoP"/>

He had one son, by his first marriage, George Grant who inherited Waltham House.<ref name="HoP"/><ref name="MB"/> He married in 1808, at [[Bolsover]], Frances Stanley Allen of [[Linby]], daughter of the late James Humberstone Allen.<ref>{{cite news |title=Married |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000361/18081024/013/0003 |work=Salisbury and Winchester Journal |date=24 October 1808|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Monthly Magazine: Or, British Register |date=1808 |page=375 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmU3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA375 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Nottinghamshire Parish Registers: Mansfield 1599-1812 |date=1909 |publisher=Issued to the subscribers by Phillimore & Company |page=108 |language=en}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, John}}
[[Category:1720s births]]
[[Category:1804 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies]]

John Grant (d. 1804) - Revision history

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