Sir Archibald Grant, 2nd Baronet
Encyclopedia
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1868...
, 1722–1732. After his expulsion from the House of Commons for his involvement in the frauds on the Charitable Corporation
Charitable Corporation
The Charitable Corporation was an institution in Britain intended to provide loans at low interest to the deserving poor, including by large-scale pawnbroking. It was established by charter in 1707. Its full title was "Charitable Corporation for the relief of the industrious poor by assisting them...
, he returned to Scotland and devoted his time to improving his estate.
Background
Alexander Grant was the eldest son of Sir Francis Grant, 1st Baronet, a Lord of Session, with the judicial title of Lord Cullen. His father had sold his ancestral estate in BanffshireBanffshire
The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...
. He purchased that of Monymusk
Monymusk
Monymusk is a planned village in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland which was almost entirely rebuilt in 1840, although its history dates back to 1170.It is a site for fishing on the nearby River Don.-External links:* *...
in 1713. This was inherited by Alexander on his father's death in 1726. Alexander passed as a Scottish advocate in 1714, and was subseuently called to the English bar
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
.
Charitable Corporation
In London, Archibald Grant became involved in share speculation, possibly from the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. He was elected to the Committee (Board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
) of the Charitable Corporation
Charitable Corporation
The Charitable Corporation was an institution in Britain intended to provide loans at low interest to the deserving poor, including by large-scale pawnbroking. It was established by charter in 1707. Its full title was "Charitable Corporation for the relief of the industrious poor by assisting them...
in October 1725. He was in debt from earlier stockjobbing to George Robinson
George Robinson (swindler)
George Robinson was an English stockbroker and swindler in the 1720s and early 1730s. A banker in Lombard Street, he was appointed the circulating cashier of the Charitable Corporation...
(a stockjobber). In October 1727, he joined a Partnership of Five to engage in speculation in the Company's shares. This was managed by Robinson, the other three partners being William Burroughs (another director), William Squire (an Assistant), and John Thomson (the Company's warehouse keeper).
Mines
From his second marriage in 1727, Grant was also concerned in mines at EyamEyam
Eyam is a small village in Derbyshire, England. The village is best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread...
Edge, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
and Oden in Castleton, Derbyshire, in which his father in law Charles Potts had earlier been concerned. These mines were evidently profitable in the earlier years. Later, trhere were disputes with managers. In 1747, Grant was trying to sell the mines and the Partington estate (of his wife). The mines were apparently not sold, but operation was clearly hindered by Grant's lack of money.
Grant also bought the mines at Strontian
Strontian
Strontian is the main village in Sunart, an area in western Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, on the A861 road. It lies on the north shore of Loch Sunart, close to the head of the loch...
in Scotland for a modest sum and sent Derbyshire miners there to develop them in 1729, also a relative of his wife, to manage them.
His Charitable Corporation partners were told of some mines in Scotland in which he and Sir Robert Sutton
Robert Sutton (diplomat)
Sir Robert Sutton KB was an English diplomat and then politician.-Early life:He was the elder son of Robert Sutton of Averham, Nottinghamshire, and his wife, Katherine, the daughter of the Revd William Sherborne of Pembridge, Herefordshire...
another director was concerned, and proposed that the York Buildings Company
York Buildings Company
The York Buildings Company was an English company in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.-Waterworks:The full name of the company was The Governor and Company for raising the Thames Water at York Buildings...
should lease them, hoping the enhance the value of its stock. They then bought York Buildings shares, which rose in value. While Grant was in Scotland the other four partners made further share purchases. All this was financed by borrowing money from the Charitable Corporation on false pledges. Ultimately the speculation failed. Unable to pay their debts, Robinson and Thomson absconded. The whole affair was then subject to an investigation by a committee of the House of Commons. Grant was expelled from the House.
Other activities
In 1728, he and his brother-in-law Alexander Garden of Troup leased from the York Buildings Company the Southesk, Marschal, Pitcairn, and most of the Panmure estates for 29 years at £4000 per year.He was a member, in February 1729, of the parliamentary Gaols Committee, chaired by James Oglethorpe
James Oglethorpe
James Edward Oglethorpe was a British general, member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia...
, which visited the Fleet
Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the Fleet River in London. The prison was built in 1197 and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.- History :...
and Marshalsea
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of...
prisons to prepare a report for parliament on the conditions in which debtors were being held.
Later life
After Grant's expulsion from the Commons, he returned to Scotland and devoted his time to improving his MonymuskMonymusk
Monymusk is a planned village in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland which was almost entirely rebuilt in 1840, although its history dates back to 1170.It is a site for fishing on the nearby River Don.-External links:* *...
estate. He supported rural manufactures such as linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
. He introduced English agricultural methods, such as keeping land fallow; and English crops, including clover
Clover
Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes...
and ryegrass
Ryegrass
Ryegrass is a genus of nine species of tufted grasses in the Pooideae subfamily of the Poaceae family. Also called tares , these plants are native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but are...
in connection with crop rotation. In this connection he published two pamphlets: The Farmer's New-Year's Gift (Aberdeen, 1757) and The Practical Farmer's Pocket Companion (Aberdeen, 1766). According to David Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
, planting trees was ‘the only laudable thing he has ever done’.
Family
Grant married four times. By his first wife, Jean, daughter of the Revd William Meldrum of Meldrum, he had two daughters. His second wife, Anne (died before 1744), daughter of Charles Potts of Castleton in Derbyshire, was the mother of his heir Sir Archibald Grant, 3rd Baronet. The third was Elizabeth (died 1759), widow of James Callander of Jamaica. Finally, he married Jane (1707–1788), widow of Andrew MillarAndrew Millar
Andrew Millar was a British publisher.About 1729, he started business as a bookseller and publisher in the Strand, London. His own judgment in literary matters was small, but he collected an excellent staff of literary advisers, and did not hesitate to pay what at the time were considered large...
, the London bookseller.