[79] UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE NO RECORD of when the societies commenced, but I have a number of newspaper accounts of the meetings when my Uncle James (the 11th Earl and 30th Chief) came of age in 1897. Then there appear to have been three separate societies: in London, in Glasgow, and in Grantown- on-Spey. The latter society had 11 life members and 197 ordinary members, and they held their first gathering at Castle Grant by invitation of the dowager. They were in negotiation with the Glasgow Clan Grant Society with a view to amalgamation, and it is believed they did form a joint society. They sent an address of congratulations to my uncle, the text of which was as follows:
We, Inhabitants of Strathspey, your Lordship's clansmen and others, in view of your Lordship's having attained your legal majority, desire to approach your Lordship with the expression of our hearty congratulations and good wishes.
The thousands of leagues of ocean that sever your Lordship from the Home of your ancestors do not diminish the respectful and kindly feelings we entertain towards your Lordship as Head of the Noble House of Grant, whose integrity, patriotism, and beneficence, illustrated through centuries of loyalty to the State and in the exercise of a wise and gentle administration throughout their Hereditary Domains, ever won the devotion and affection of their people, bequeathing to your Lordship the heritage of a great and honourable name.
In asking your Lordship to accept our felicitations we pray that you may long be spared to walk worthily in the great traditions of your House, and to com- mand the esteem, affection, and attachment of the illustrious Clan of whom your Lordship is the titular and hereditary chief.
My uncle replied on 30 July 1897 from Lincoln College, Christ Church, as follows:
In reply, permit me to state that I accept the address with deep feelings of gratititude, and trust you will be kind enough to convey to the signatories my greatest appreciation of the honour they have conferred upon me. I can assure you and them that the valued address will ever be a bond of union between us, and that, although we are at present separated by many thousand miles, yet in spirit, I feel that such a bond helps to materially bridge the distance now parting us. Instead of formally tendering my thanks through this letter, I venture to [80] hope that, ere long, I shall experience the pleasure of doing so in propria persona, and of meeting you and my Strathspey clansmen face to face.
The Glasgow Society held a dance in 1897 at the Alexandra hotel, attended by over 100 members. At that time the society had been running over seven years, and they had 14 life members and 87 ordinary members. It was then reported that the Edinburgh Society had merged with the parent society and a new branch had formed in Manchester.
My next record is a letter dated 1907 from the London Clan Grant Society, inviting my father to a dinner at the Metropole hotel to meet his brother James. My father was then in New Zealand, so, of course, could not attend. It would seem that these societies went into abeyance some time during or after the Great War. In 1951 the government sent Lord Macpherson of Drumnochter to Edinburgh to organise a so-called 'March of the Clans'-a massed clans jamboree in Murrayfield football stadium. It was really successful, and I imagine the first massed clans event since King George IV visited Edinburgh in about 1825. At this time a number of able and keen Grants came forward, and a fresh Clan Grant Society was formed with over 100 members. Over the next four years meetings were held, and then it went into abeyance, until 1981, when it was reformed by Mr. David Grant-Blythe. It has a branch in Bristol.
In 1977, a Grant of Los Angeles, California, came forward to raise a Grant Society in the United States of America, and he was joined by a Grant of Hixson, Tennessee. This initiative has resulted in the appointment of Clan Commissioners in a number of States, and also one so far in Canada, and as a result an active North American Grant Society is now functioning. In addition there is a Grant association of around 6,000 people who claim to be direct descendants of John and Betty More of Drumcork Farm, Rothiemurchus, who emigrated to America in 1772, and there is also a Grant Society in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The founders of the Clan Grant Society in the USA with two younger family members: on the left John Grant of Los Angeles and 2nd from the right George Grant of Tennessee, at the 1978 Virginia Scottish Games.
My wife and I leading the parade at the Stone Mountain Highland Games, Atlanta Georgia in 1981
Meeting a Scottish Red Indian at the Stone Mountain Games 1981
Myself with George Grant, Convenor of the Clan Grant Society in the USA (1981)
My wife and I with two members of the USA Clan Grant Society in Florida, 1981; on the left Elsie Grant and on the right Earl Melloy.
Two years ago Mr F. Grant-Burgess of Napier, New Zealand, came forward to start a Clan Grant Society in that country, where there are a great many people of Scottish extraction, and which has had direct interests with the Grants from its earliest days of colonisation. He has been very successful, and now has a membership almost rivalling our North American Grant Society. In 1982 Mr. Donald Grant founded an Australian Grant Society which is flourish- ing. My wife and I have much enjoyed attending Clan gatherings in the U.S.A. and Canada.