GRANT, Alexander West Indies Merchant, MP for Inverness, 5th (3rd) Baronet of Dalvey, Sir ^{2 3}

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  General Notes:

"GRANT
ALEXANDER
PETER GRANT LYDIA MC INTOSH
M
06/07/1705
128/B 10 17
Cromdale and Inverallan"

from Births and Baptisms



"By the early 1740s he was a leading West India merchant in Billiter Lane, and proceeded to restore his family influence in Scotland, purchasing extensive estates in the shires of Elgin and Nairn, as well as property in the Inverness district of burghs, which he unsuccessfully contested in 1754."

from History of Parliament




"Grant did not retire from his business until 1770 at which point he turned it over to three relatives. Grant died 1 August 1772, his brother Ludovick inherited the title and became the 6th Baronet of Dalvey.

Alexander Grant of Britain, baronet. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1773. Slave-ownership at probate: 672 of whom 343 were listed as male and 329 as female. 0 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £102,052.74 Jamaican currency of which £61,345 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £38,071.94 currency debts and £0 currency plate."

from Wikitree article ^{2 3 6}

Alexander married Elizabeth COOTE 'of Jamaica' in 1737.¹ (Elizabeth COOTE 'of Jamaica' was born about 1720 and died on 29 July 1792 in London, England ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Sir Alexander Grant of Dalvey, third Baronet, Who was a merchant in London. In 1749 he purchased several lands from the Laird of Grant, and also the estate of Grangehill, near Forres, in the parish of Dyke and Moy, of which he obtained a Crown charter, 26th July 1749, and named them Dalvey. He obtained, on 24th February 1755, a charter of sale of the lands of Newton Park, etc., in Nairnshire. He obtained a royal warrant for supporters for his armorial bearings on 8th July 1761, and registered the amis and supporters on 15th April 1762. He died at London on 1st August 1772, and was survived by his widow, Cooke, who died, also at London, on 29th July 1792, in her 75th year. He left no issue, and was succeeded by his brother."

from Chiefs of Grant




"In 1737 Alexander married the daughter and heiress of another planter with a large holding on the St Catherine estate called Elizabeth Cooke and, together, they headed back to Britain to make a home and run a successful business in London, whilst drawing revenue from their Jamaican plantations."

from spanglefish.com




"Grant studied a 'rudimentary correspondence course in pharmacy' at the University of Aberdeen. However the Grants had suffered financially as a result of their support of the Jacobite cause. Grant therefore went out to Jamaica in order to restore the family fortune. He first appeared in the Jamaica records in 1721 as a 'Practitioner in Physick and Chiurgery.' By 1730 Grant had acquired 300 acres in the parish of St. Elizabeth, he also became a trader by leasing a storehouse with his partner Peter Beckford, Jr. From the storehouse the men sold supplies to neighbouring planters. In the years that followed the business was transferred to Kingston. in Kingston Grant was introduced by Beckford to Elizabeth Cootes, the only daughter of a St. Catherine planter Robert Cootes. The couple married in 1737 and departed the island in 1739 to pursue a career in the metropole. Isabella Grant, daughter of Sir Alexander Grant, was buried in the Church of St John-at-Hampstead in 1742 aged 4 years, in the same grave as Elizabeth Dicker (q.v.).

[....]

Note that both Burke's Peerage and the History of Parliament website give a second marriage for Alexander Grant, to Margaret Grant, daughter of Alexander Grant of Auchterblair, 01/10/1764, but Alexander's will written in 1772 gives his wife as Dame Elizabeth Grant and names her as a beneficiary, executrix and trustee - see PROB 11/982/355. The will of Dame Elizabeth Grant, written in 1787 with codicil in 1790, clearly identifies her as the widow of Sir Alexander Grant and sister-in-law of Sir Ludovick Grant - see PROB 11/1222/151."

from Wikitree article ^{1 4 6}