FRANCIS WILLIAM GRANT, M.P., MASTER OF GRANT. l814-1840
[484] THIS highly-popular and much-loved young chief, in whom so many hopes were centred, was unhappily cut off in the flower of youth. He was the second born, though, at the time of his death, the eldest surviving son of Colonel the Honourable Francis William Grant, and was horn on 5th October 1814. Nothing has been ascertained as to his education and early life; but as his father was constantly in London attending Parliament, he was probably educated there. In 1833, when in his eighteenth year, he left home for a tour on the Continent. In the end of 1835 he was still abroad, and on the 19th December of that year he was at Suez, having just crossed the desert; from Cairo, purposing a visit to Mount Sinai, from there to proceed by the old caravan route from Kosseir to the ruins of Thebes and up the river Nile. Letter, Colonel Grant to the factor at Cullen, 13th January 1836, at Cullen House. On the occasion of a vacancy in the Elgin Burghs in 1838, through the appointment of Sir Andrew Leith Hay, the former member, as Governor of Bermuda, it was proposed that Mr. Grant should come forward as a candidate for the representation of these burghs. Mr. Grant did not think it prudent to entertain the proposal, and declined to stand. Letters, 24th January and 1st February 1838. ibid. He was afterwards, in the same year, elected for the county of Inverness, and sat in Parliament as member for that shire until his death on 11th March 1840, unmarried.Like his father and his grandfather, Mr. Grant was warmly attached to the Church of Scotland. He was elected a representative elder to the General Assembly in 1839. In acknowledging receipt of his commission, he indicated his opinion of the state of feeling then in the Church. "I fear," he writes, "that some of our clergy are getting a little out of the way in their ideas about the independence of the Church. Although I am on very many subjects disposed to be liberal, there is nothing I should be more afraid of seeing than too much power given to the Church."
[485] Unhappily, the career of this excellent and amiable youth, as he was deemed by his contemporaries, was destined to an untimely end. The particulars of the death of himself and his mother are gathered from the journals of the day. His mother, Mrs. Grant, died in London on 27th February 1840. Her remains were brought from London by the "North Star" steamer to Burghead, and from thence to Castle Grant, the family seat most adjacent to the burying-place of the family at Duthil. For the purpose of attending the funeral of his mother, Mr. Grant, who was suffering from slight indisposition, hurried down from London in company with his next brother, Mr. John Charles Grant. They arrived at Cullen House on the 10th March. No apprehension was entertained by Mr. Grant's friends on account of his illness, which was attributed to the effect produced on his mind by his mother's death, and to the fatigues of a rapid journey. He retired to bed at the usual hour, only complaining of a headache, which it was hoped sleep would remove. But when his servant entered the apartment in the morning he was horror-struck to find that his master was dead. It is supposed that the immediate cause of death was obstruction about the heart. The news of the melancholy event excited the deepest feeling of awe and sympathy among all ranks, though at first the report was received with incredulity, the shock was so sudden and unlooked for. Such a stroke, had it occurred in the family of the meanest peasant, would have called forth the general sympathy of the neighbourhood; how much more when it visited a house connected by ties of respect and affectionate regard with so large a portion of the North of Scotland. Mr. Grant was only in the twenty-sixth year of his age when he died. His remains were removed from Cullen House to Castle Grant preparatory to their interment at Duthil. The new family mausoleum had only been completed by Colonel Grant in the preceding year. It was a trying occasion for a feeling husband and parent, and a spectacle of woe rarely witnessed, that lie should perform the last earthly duties to his wife and his eldest son at time same time. The simultaneous funeral of mother and son has been fitly described in the following terms:
The scene was one which will be indelibly engraved on the memories of those who witnessed it, and will form the subject of a tale, that will be told with feelings of deep [486] interest, by sire to son, for generations yet to come. Over a wide tract of country, extending to many miles, and comprehending several parishes, all operations were suspended; and a. mournful gloom, like a heavy cloud, hung over the district. Groups of people, of all ages. decently attired, were seen in different directions, wending their way towards the line of
procession; while the tolling, at intervals, of the 'bells of the churches and public seminaries, rendered the event more striking and impressive.
At two o'clock the procession emerged from the policies of Castle Grant - the people on foot, assembled at this point, being in advance of the funeral, in marching order. The remains of the beloved, lady, the hearse and horses decked out with black plumes, the driver, etc., wearing black crapes and weepers, followed the pedestrians; and the remains of the Master, the hearse and horses decked with white plumes, and the servants wearing scarfs of white crape, immediately followed the remains of his mother. While the immediate relations, followed by the factor and gentlemen in the employment of the family, the clergymen, gentlemen, and principal tenantry connected with the estate, in a line of vehicles, formed a procession extending, at some points, to about a mile in length. The effect pro(laced on the feelings of the community who beheld this procession, may be more easily conceived than described. From the chief mourner .to the humblest of his dependants, a mystic chord of affection, formed by acts of benevolence, on the part of the family, and feelings of gratitude on the part of the clan, like an electric chain, touched and affected all, in a greater or less degree, along the line of procession.
On the closing scene, and the impressive solemnity which marked its proceedings, we shall not dilate; but all present felt a thankfulness to the great Disposer of events who gave power from above to the surviving parent to discharge in person a duty so trying even in contemplation; that nothing save that Christian faith and hope, which enables the mourner to look beyond the grave, could have supported him under such a weight of sorrow. But in a religious point of view, there could not have been a calamity of the same extent more susceptible of yielding Divine consolation to the mourner, while contemplating in review the life and death of the departed objects of lamentation. In reference. to her, nothing could be more applicable than the announcement of the angel to Cornelius, "Thy prayers and alms have come up for memorial before the Lord." And in reference to him, the universal and just estimate of his character which burst from all parties on hearing of the tidings of his death - comprised in the words, "That he wos too good for this world" - suggests to the bereaved and sorrowing mind the consoling thought that he had exchanged an earthly coronet for an heavenly crown.
After the tenantry assembled on the spot were permitted to take the last look of the remains, the gates of the splendid mausoleum (finished only last year) were closed on the mot her and son, there to repose "in the sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection." Inverness Courier, 1st April 1840.
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Volume 1 Chapter 20(i) |
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