[1] FOR SOME YEARS it has been increasingly clear in my mind that an up-to-date history of the Clan ought to be written. Owing to the passage of time, I am now the only surviving member of this great Scottish family who has the intimate background knowledge to cover the story since 1885. I fear if I do not put down this knowledge it will be irretrievably lost to succeeding genera- tions. I make no pretence of being either an author or historian.
A great bulk of the recorded ancient and well-authenticated historical matter reads like the following random extract:
John Grant was infeft in Glencarnie on 8th April 1499 in terms of a precept the same date as the charter, which assigned Mullochard as the principal messuage of the lands of Glencarnie.
What does it mean to us? Very little I would say, extremely dull, and heavy going at that. I understand it, but it isn't the sort of stuff I want to read. So I have tried to make an interesting and continuous story in an understandable way without enlarging matters by giving a treatise of British history to explain such items as the causes of the Battle of Halidon or the Jacobite Rebellion.
I am not attempting to write a history of any of the Cadets or Septs of the family, even supposing I had the knowledge to do so, which I have not. These individually would fill volumes, with the tales of innumerable great Grant characters who could not be omitted. For example, Charles Grant: he became Comte de Vaux, and claimed descent from Sir John Grant who was imprisoned by Edward I in 1297 for his support of William Wallace. The Comte, who was an officer in the French Guards, sent a magnificent portrait of himself painted by the French King's Court painter to Sir James Grant in 1781. In latter years this painting hung over the serving table in the dining room of Cullen House. This very large painting was one of the 1,700-odd lots sold by the Earl of Seafield and Trustees, at the Cullen House displenishing auction sale, held in 1975 by Christies. The sale was necessitated by rising costs. For example, heating alone cost thousands a year, and so the Earl decided to close the house. The total sale realised nearly £300,000 at the auction; the [2] portrait obtained £20,000. Then, of course, one must not omit General Ulysses S. Grant, hero of the American Civil War and President of the United States. of America from 1869 to 1877. There were also innumerable other Grants over the centuries who reached the ranks of admiral, general and colonial governors, etc.
The great encyclopedia of the Chiefs' family history is contained in three volumes entitled The Chiefs of Grant, by William Fraser, LL.D., published in Edinburgh in 1883. The books were privately produced in a limited edition of 150 copies. This writer with his team of researchers visited many of the great stately houses of Scotland, and produced similar types of historical volumes for other families. These books are very hard to come by now. Each of the Grant volumes weighs about nine pounds, so their size and the mass of information they contain can well be visualised, especially as the matter is all expressed fairly concisely. Volume I in particular contains an amazing amount of detailed progressive history from the earliest times, and much credit must be given to William Fraser for his deep and careful research. It is difficult to pinpoint some of the places he mentions unless one has local knowledge, and some today comprise only a small cottage and telephone kiosk, whereas they must have been more thickly populated at one time. The Highland population has tended, like everywhere else, to move to towns and villages, leaving the countryside to farming and holiday folk.
Volume I is a detailed history of the Chiefs and gives Grant family trees, including the Cadet families. Volume II contains copies of letters and corres- pondence, commencing with a warrant from King James to James Grant of Freuchie dated 1534, ordering him to proceed against the Captain of Clan Chatton and others; and ending with correspondence about volunteer companies dated April 1793. Volume III contains copies of 393 charters and writs of the Grants of Grant. It commences with one by William the Lion, King of Scotland, to Earl Gilbert of Strathearn dated 1180, and ends with marriage articles between Ludovick Colquhoun of Luss and Marion Dalrymple dated 1728. The documents in Volumes II and III were said to be merely a selection from the vast Castle Grant muniments and archives. There is a fourth volume which contains copies of the coloured prints that are in the three volumes.
The next Grant history was Rulers of Strathspey, by the Earl of Cassilis, and was published in Inverness in 1911. He was a great friend, and distant relative, of Caroline, Countess of Seafield, who will be further discussed later in this book. Cassilis's book may be described as a brief history up to 1911. This book is rare and difficult to obtain; I was offered a copy for £28 some years back. There is an excellent little pocket history entitled The Clan Grant, by Dr. I. F. Grant, LL.D., published by Johnson and Bacon in 1955, as one of their series of Clan histories. Dr. Grant is particularly well known as the founder of 'Am Fasgadh', the Highland Folk Museum at Kingussie, which she built up herself, and which has now been taken into [3] national care. This little book, excellent as it is, is not quite adequate to convey the family history, particularly over the past 100 years, except in a general manner.
As regards the Septs of the family the only book written as far as I am aware is one by Ian Mackay about the Grants of Urquart and Glenmoriston, a most learned and detailed book published in 1893, and virtually unobtainable today. Lastly, there are a number of books such as The Secret of Spey, by Wendy Wood; Romantic Strathspey, by the late J. A. Rennie; and, perhaps the best known of all, The Memoirs of a Highland Lady, by Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus. These books are either personal stories, or historical accounts of the locality and its legends. They are well worth study if they can be obtained. It may be worth mentioning that the lovely cottage beside Loch an Eilein, recorded by Elizabeth Grant, still stands, although sadly neglected. It is remarkable for its attraction, particularly as old Highland cottages are not normally of architectural merit. Its magnificent site, looking across the loch to the water-encircled castle of the Wolf of Badenoch, with the Cairngorms as a background to the east, is unsurpassed on Speyside. There is a conservancy warden in charge of the area, which is all under the proprietor- ship of John Grant, Esq., Younger, of Rothiemurchus.