Background
Grant was a son of Duncan Grant, of Mulochaird in Strathspey, Scotland and a younger brother of the physician, Sir James Robert Grant, who was chief medical officer at Waterloo.
Grant was a son of Duncan Grant, of Mulochaird in Strathspey, Scotland and a younger brother of the physician, Sir James Robert Grant, who was chief medical officer at Waterloo.
Grant entered the army in 1794 as an ensign in the 95th Regiment, from which he was promoted to lieutenant in the 97th Regiment. In 1795, Grant was aboard HMS Orion under James Saumarez at the Battle of Groix. He was promoted to captain in 1796 and subsequently fought under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the West Indies.
In June 1801, Grant was appointed Assistant Quarter and Barrack Master General in Tobago and held the same position in Dominica in 1802.
Promoted to major in 1802, he transferred to the 3rd West Indian Regiment and returned to England in 1803. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 70th Regiment in 1804, he returned to the West Indies that year.
Further promoted to colonel in 1813 and major-general in 1819, Grant was then appointed Governor of the Bahamas in 1820, then Governor of Trinidad in 1829. On 11 November 1851, he was promoted to general and died suddenly from heart disease a few months later on 26 January 1852, aboard an omnibus on Regent Street, London, while he was travelling to his home on Harley Street.
He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.
Serving in the latter post until 1833, Lionel Mordaunt Fraser"s History of Trinidad (1971) states on the day after his departure on 22 June, the Portuguese-of-Spain Gazette reported he was "hated by the negroes and detested by every independent member of the community".