1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Grant, James

GRANT, JAMES (1822–1887), British novelist, was born in Edinburgh on the 1st of August 1822. His father, John Grant, was a captain in the 92nd Gordon Highlanders and had served through the Peninsular War. For several years James Grant was in Newfoundland with his father, but in 1839 he returned to England, and entered the 62nd Foot as an ensign. In 1843 he resigned his commission and devoted himself to writing, first magazine articles, but soon a profusion of novels, full of vivacity and incident, and dealing mainly with military scenes and characters. His best stories, perhaps, were The Romance of War (his first, 1845), Bothwell (1851), Frank Hilton; or, The Queen’s Own (1855), The Phantom Regiment and Harry Ogilvie (1856), Lucy Arden (1858), The White Cockade (1867), Only an Ensign (1871), Shall I Win Her? (1874), Playing with Fire (1887). Grant also wrote British Battles on Land and Sea (1873–1875) and valuable books on Scottish history. Permanent value attaches to his great work, in three volumes, on Old and New Edinburgh (1880). He was the founder and energetic promoter of the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights. In 1875 he became a Roman Catholic. He died on the 5th of May 1887.