John Peter Grant

Sir John Peter Grant, GCMG, KCB, (28 November 1807 – 6 January 1893), was a British colonial administrator who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal (1859–1862) and as Governor of Jamaica.

For the Member of Parliament, see John Peter Grant (MP).

Sir John Peter Grant GCMG, KCB
Born	(1807-11-28)28 November 1807 London
Died	6 January 1893(1893-01-06) (aged 85)
Nationality	British
Education	Eton College; Edinburgh University
Alma mater	East India College; Fort William College
Occupation	colonial administrator
Spouse(s)	Henrietta Isabella Phillippa Plowden

Life

John Peter Grant was born in London on 28 November 1807. His parents were the similarly named John Peter Grant, who came from Rothiemurchus, Inverness-shire, and his wife, Jane, a daughter of William Ironside from Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham.[1]

Grant was educated at Eton College from 1819, spent some time at Edinburgh University and then, in 1827, became a student at the East India College in Haileybury. He joined the Bengal Civil Service in the following year and spent some time at Fort William College in Calcutta before being appointed as an assistant magistrate in Bareilly. The experience there did not suit him and he returned to Calcutta in 1832.[1]

There followed a nine-year period during which Grant held various secretarial posts in the administration.[1]

Jamaica

Grant was appointed Governor of Jamaica and arrived on 5 August 1866. His arrival attracted excited crowds and he was given a guard of honour from the First and Third West India Regiments.[2] Grant was responsible for the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Jamaica, which took place in 1870,[3] and he also established a constabulary in 1867[4] as well as instituting Crown Colony rule with a nominated council there.[5]

He died at Upper Norwood on 6 January 1893.[1]

Family

On 16 February 1835, Grant married Henrietta Isabella Phillippa Plowden at Calcutta Cathedral. She was the daughter of another Bengal Civil Service officer, Trevor Chichele Plowden. The couple had five sons and three daughters, one of whom, Jane Maria Strachey was a leading suffragist and she married Sir Richard Strachey.[1]

His son Major Bartle Grant was the father of the painter Duncan Grant.

See also

• John Peter Grant, 13th Earl of Dysart
• List of Governors of Bengal

References

1. "Grant, Sir John Peter (1807–1893), administrator in India and colonial governor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11274. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Marsala, Vincent John (1967). Sir John Peter Grant, Governor of Jamaica, 1866-1874: an Administrative History. LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. Louisiana State University. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
3. Bryan, Patrick (2000). The Jamaican People, 1880-1902: Race, Class, and Social Control. University of West Indies Press. p. 49. ISBN 9789766400941.
4. Bryan, Patrick (2000). The Jamaican People, 1880-1902: Race, Class, and Social Control. University of West Indies Press. p. 81. ISBN 9789766400941.
5. Bryan, Patrick (2000). The Jamaican People, 1880-1902: Race, Class, and Social Control. University of West Indies Press. p. 12. ISBN 9789766400941.

Further reading

• Buckland, Charles Edward (1901). Bengal Under The Lieutenant-Governors. 1. Calcutta: S. K. Lahiri & Co. pp. 163–271.
• Marsala, Vincent John (1972). Sir John Peter Grant, Governor of Jamaica, 1866-1874: An Administrative History. Institute of Jamaica.
• Seton-Karr, Walter Scott (1899). Grant of Rothiemurchus; A Memoir of the Services of Sir John Peter Grant. London: John Murray (for private circulation).

External links

• Portrait of Grant by George Frederick Watts, in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Government offices
Preceded by Sir Frederick James Halliday	Lieutenant-governor of Bengal 1859–1862	Succeeded by Sir Cecil Beadon
Preceded by Henry Knight Storks	Governor of Jamaica 1866–1874	Succeeded by W. A. G. Young (acting)