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GRANT, SIR WILLIAM.—This
able lawyer was a descendant of the Grants of Beldornie, a sept of the
parent clan. His father, originally a farmer, was afterwards appointed
collector of customs in the Isle of Man, an office which he held till his
death. His son William, the subject of this notice, was born at Elchies,
in Morayshire, in 1754, and was educated at the grammar-school of Elgin,
along with his younger brother, who afterwards became collector at
Martinico. William did not forget, when he had attained distinction, the
place in which he had been trained, so that, thirty years afterwards, when
the school was to be rebuilt, he was one of its earliest contributors. His
education was completed at the old college of Aberdeen. In the choice of a
profession, which was that of law, he was directed by the advice of his
uncle, a merchant, who had been so successful in England, that he was
enabled to purchase the estate of Elchies, on which he had been born.
After the usual course of study at Aberdeen had been finished, William
Grant went to London, and was entered at Lincoln’s Inn. At the age of
twenty-five, although he had not yet been called to the English bar, he
was considered competent for colonial practice, and was appointed
attorney-general of Canada. In this new office his professional talents
soon brought him into universal esteem. He also showed that he understood
the adage of tam Marti quam Mercurio; for on Quebec being besieged
by the American army under Montgomery, the attorney-general became a bold
and active captain of volunteers, and continued to perform military duty
until the siege was ended.
[Note: Sir William was in
fact the first Grant to live at Beldornie. He bought the estate of of
Beldorney from Thomas Buchan of Auchmacoy, who had bought it in 1807 from
Charles Gordon of Wardhouse, who was last of line of Gordon of Beldorney.
(Source: MS by Lord Caithness). Sir William is said to have descended from
the Grants of Ballindalloch. Best regards
Richard Hodgson]
After this he continued to
discharge his civil duties for several years; but finding the position of
Canada too critical, as well as colonial practice too limited for his
aspirations, he resigned his office of attorney-general; and on returning
to London, he entered with full ardour upon a more favourable arena in the
courts of Westminster, after having been commissioned in 1787 to practise
as an English barrister. His commencement, however, was so unpropitious as
to bring all his energy and resolution into full exercise, and nerve them
with double vigour; for however eminent he had been at the bar of Quebec,
he found himself an utter stranger in London, while his shy retiring
habits gave little promise that such a difficulty would be easily
obviated. Fortunately, one of those incidents occurred by which the
reserve of modest merit is often broken through, and the possessor dragged
out to the sphere which he ought to occupy. Mr. Grant, after having gone
the circuit year after year without obtaining a single brief, happened at
length to be retained in some appeals from the Court of Session in
Scotland to the House of Lords. He discharged his duty so ably on this
occasion, and evinced such legal talent and force of reasoning, as to
extort the highest approbation from the stern Lord Chancellor Thurlow, a
man by no means profuse in compliments. He eagerly asked the name of the
speaker; and having learned it, he said to a friend, "Be not surprised if
that young man should one day occupy this seat." It is thought that Grant
might ultimately have fulfilled this prediction had he been willing to
encounter the responsible duties of the chancellorship. Thurlow’s
approbation did not end in empty compliment; he interested himself in the
fortunes of the talented but unbefriended stranger, and in consequence of
his advice, Grant left the practice of common law for that of equity, as
being better fitted for his studies and habits.
From this period his career
was one of honour and success, and his first step was a seat in
parliament, having been returned for Shaftesbury at the general election
in 1790. On entering the House he made no attempt to attract notice as a
political orator; his forte rather lay in private consultations and
committees, where his sagacity, good sense, and extensive knowledge, were
seen and appreciated by the most eminent of his colleagues. Of these
especially was Mr. Pitt, of whom he was a firm and effective supporter. On
one occasion, in the year 1791, his colonial experience was of great
service to the premier. The subject before the House for discussion was a
new code of laws for the province of Canada, and on this question he
enforced the proposal of Pitt with such incontrovertible arguments, drawn
from his own knowledge and practice as attorney-general of the colony,
that even Fox was gratified, and all but convinced. Another occasion on
which Grant signalized himself in the House of Commons occurred in the
following year, when he defended the measures of the ministry upon the
subject of the Russian armament. At the beginning of 1794 he was returned
to parliament by the borough of Westminster, and at the same time
appointed solicitor-general to the Queen, and in 1796 he was chosen knight
in parliament for the county of Banff. In 1798 he was appointed
chief-justice of Chester, and in the year following he was made
solicitor-general, on which occasion he received the usual honour of
knighthood. In 1801 he was honoured with his last and highest promotion of
master of the rolls. This steady rise was owing, not to his support of the
predominant party in the state, but the high character which he
established for himself as lawyer and judge, in which all parties
coincided. He continued to represent the county of Banff until 1812, when
the Parliament was dissolved, and to fill the office of master of the
rolls till 1817, at which period, he was anxious to retire from public
life before age had unfitted him for its duties, or impaired his
intellectual vigour. On the 24th December, therefore, he fulfilled this
resolution of self-denial by tendering his resignation of the mastership,
on which occasion he received, among other well-deserved eulogiums, the
following from the bar of the court, through Sir Arthur Pigott, the
speaker appointed for the occasion—"The promptitude and wisdom of your
decisions have been as highly conducive to the benefit of the suitors, as
they have been eminently promotive of the general administration of
equity. In the performance of your important and arduous duties, you have
exhibited an uninterrupted equanimity, and displayed a temper never
disturbed, and a patience never wearied; you have evinced an uniform and
impartial attention to those engaged in the discharge of their
professional duties here, and who have had the opportunity, and enjoyed
the advantage of observing that conduct in the dispensation of justice,
which has been conspicuously calculated to excite emulation, and to form
an illustrious example for imitation."
During the sixteen years of
life that were still continued to him, Sir William Grant abstained from
public affairs, devoting himself wholly to intellectual recreations, and
the society of congenial company, in the neighbourhood of Walthamstow, and
during the two last years of his life at Barton House, Dawlish, the
residence of his sister, the widow of Admiral Schanck. He was never
married. His death occurred on the 25th of May, 1832, when he had reached
the age of seventy-eight years. |
