Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Grant, George Monro
GRANT, GEORGE MONRO (1835–1902), principal of Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, born on 22 Dec. 1835 at Albion Mines, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, was third child of James Grant, who, springing from a long line of Scottish farmers, emigrated from Banffshire in 1826, and married five years later Mary Monro of Inverness. Owing to the accident of losing his right hand at the age of seven, the boy was brought up to be a scholar. At Pictou Academy he gained in 1853 a bursary tenable at either Glasgow or Edinburgh University. He chose Glasgow, and seven years later, on the completion of a distinguished course, he received his testamur in theology, and was ordained (Dec. 1860) by the presbytery of Glasgow as a missionary for Nova Scotia. He declined an invitation from Norman Macleod [q. v.] to remain in Glasgow as his assistant.
After occupying various mission-fields in his native province and in Prince Edward Island, he accepted a call in 1863 to the pulpit of St. Matthew's Church, the leading Church of Scotland church in Halifax. Grant, who saw the need of a native trained ministry for the established presbyterian church in Nova Scotia, struggled without success to establish a theological hall at Halifax, by way of supplement to Dalhousie College, which largely through his efforts was reorganised as a non-sectarian institution in 1863. Meanwhile he directed his efforts to the union of the presbyterian church throughout Canada. The federation of the provinces in 1867, which Grant eagerly supported, gave an impulse to the spirit of union, and 15 June 1875 saw the first General Assembly of the united church.
In 1877 Grant, who had for some years identified himself with educational reform, became principal of Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, a presbyterian foundation. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Glasgow University in the same year. Queen's University was at the time in financial difficulties, and he undertook two strenuous campaigns in 1878 and 1887 to obtain increased endowment from private sources. The immediate financial situation saved. Grant concentrated his energies upon securing adequate recognition and aid from the provincial legislature; but he was faced by a prejudice against state-aided denominational colleges, which was encouraged by the claim of the University of Toronto to be the only properly constituted provincial university. In 1887 Queen's University rejected federation with Toronto. But Grant's political influence steadily grew, and he secured for his university in 1893 a state-endowed school of mines, which subsequently became the faculty of practical science in the university. In 1898 Grant sought to sever the tie between the presbyterian church and the arts faculty of Queen's. In 1900 he forced his views upon the church assembly, but he died two years later, and the assembly of 1903 reversed his policy, which was not enforced till June 1911. Grant's preponderating influence in education led to an invitation (which was refused) from Sir Oliver Mowat [q. v. Suppl. II] in 1883 to resign his principalship and accept the portfolio of education in his cabinet. Grant held that the education administration in the province should be wholly 'Withdrawn from politics.
Grant acquired an intimate knowledge of the country, having twice traversed the continent. In 1872 he accompanied Mr. (afterwards Sir) Sandford Fleming on his preliminary survey of a route for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and in 1883, again with Mr. Fleming, he examined a route through the mountains. The first journey Grant recorded in 'Ocean to Ocean' (1873), and the impressions of both journeys are merged in four articles contributed to 'Scribner's Magazine' in 1880, and in 'Picturesque Canada,' a publication which he edited in 1884. To the press and to periodicals Grant frequently communicated his views on public questions. His political comments in the 'Queen's University Quarterly' were widely read. He powerfully supported the new imperialism, and urged on Canada her imperial responsibilities. He became president of the Imperial Federation League, Ontario, in 1889. To religious literature Grant contributed one book of importance, 'Religions of the World' (Edinburgh 1894; 2nd edit., revised and enlarged, 1895). This has been translated into many European languages and into Japanese.
Grant showed his courage and independence at the close of his life in his trenchant criticism of the temperance party, which aimed at the total prohibition of the liquor traffic. To restore his health, which was impaired by his endowment campaign of 1887, Grant made a tour of the world in 1888. In 1889 he was elected moderator of the general assembly of the presbyterian church in Canada, and became LL.D. of Dalhousie University in 1892. In 1891 he was elected president of the Royal Society of Canada. He was president of the St. Andrew's Society, Kingston, from 1894 to 1896. In 1901 he was created C.M.G. He died at Kingston on 10 May 1902. He was buried in Cataraqui cemetery in the same town.
On 7 May 1867 Grant married Jessie, eldest daughter of William Lawson of Halifax, Nova Scotia. His only surviving child, William Lawson Grant, is professor of history in Queen's University, Kingston. A portrait of Grant by Robert Harris (1889) is in the Convocation Hall of Queen's University, Kingston; a bust by Hamilton McCarthy (1891) is in the library and senate room there.
[Life by W. L. Grant and Frederick Hamilton, Toronto, 1904, and Edinburgh and London 1905.]