The Right Honourable

The Earl of Seafield
Francis Grant
Tenure5 June – 3 December 1888
PredecessorJames Ogilvy-Grant
SuccessorJames Ogilvie-Grant
Other titles2nd Baron Strathspey, 14th Baronet Colquhoun
Born(1847-03-09)9 March 1847
Ireland
Died3 December 1888(1888-12-03) (aged 41)
Oamaru, New Zealand
BuriedOamaru Old Cemetery
IssueJames Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield
Trevor Ogilvie-Grant, 4th Baron Strathspey
ParentsJames Ogilvy-Grant, 9th Earl of Seafield

Francis William Ogilvie-Grant, 10th Earl of Seafield, 2nd Baron Strathspey (9 March 1847 – 3 December 1888), styled as Viscount Reidhaven from 1884 to 1888 and known as simply Francis Grant for most of his life, was an Irish-born emigrant to New Zealand who became a peer for several months in 1888.

Early life

Francis William Ogilvie-Grant was born in Ireland in 1847,[1] the eldest son of James Ogilvy-Grant, 9th Earl of Seafield and his first wife (maiden name "Evans"), who died on 6 February 1850.[2] After his education, he served as a midshipman in the Royal Navy and then joined the merchant navy.[1]

Life in New Zealand

Francis ('Frank') Grant, as he was simply known then, arrived in New Zealand in 1870.[3] He bought a farm in the Waiareka Valley in a locality known as Te Aneraki[4] to the west of Oamaru in North Otago. He lost his money through his farming pursuits, and from the late 1870s worked as a labourer in fencing or other available tasks.[1] Some time after the marriage, the impoverished family moved to Oamaru.[4]

He stood twice for election in the Oamaru electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The first time, he contested the 1884 election against the incumbent, Samuel Shrimski. When Shrimski was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1885, Grant contested the resulting 1885 by-election, but lost against Thomas Hislop.[1]

Family

Francis Grant married his first cousin Ann Trevor Corry Evans, and had seven children.[1] Their youngest daughter, Nina Geraldine (1884–1951), married Sir Lees Knowles, 1st Baronet in 1915.[5]

Seafield died on 3 December 1888 from a heart condition.[2] He is buried at the Oamaru Old Cemetery.[6] He was succeeded by his oldest son in the earldom, James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield, who at the time was twelve years old.[2] He was fatally wounded in World War I in 1915, and was succeeded in the barony of Strathspey, the baronetcy of Colquhoun and as Chief of Clan Grant by his younger brother Hon. Trevor Ogilvie-Grant.[7] The earldom and the other subsidiary Scottish peerages could be passed on to female heirs, and were inherited by Nina Ogilvie-Grant, 12th Countess of Seafield.[7]

Later life

Grave of the 10th Earl of Seafield, Francis William Ogilvie Grant, at the Old Oamaru Cemetery, New Zealand

His cousin, Ian Ogilvy-Grant, 8th Earl of Seafield, died in 1884, and the title devolved to the former's uncle, Francis' father. As the heir apparent to the earldom, Grant unexpectedly became Viscount Reidhaven. When his father died on 5 June 1888, he became the Earl of Seafield in the Peerage of Scotland. A subsidiary title was Baron Strathspey in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[2]

After Lord Seafield died, his wife lived for some time in Auckland and Tauranga before moving to England.[8][9] She died at Brighton on 16 October 1935.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Death of the Earl of Seafield". Otago Witness. No. 1933. 7 December 1888. p. 29. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Death of the Earl of Seafield". The Oamaru Mail. Vol. X, no. 4282. 3 December 1888. p. 2. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "Lady Pauline Ogilvie-Grant Nicholson; Aristocrat". The Herald. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Death of Countess". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXXII, no. 22246. 22 October 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Obituary". The Press. Vol. LXIV, no. 19485. 5 December 1928. p. 16. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Cemeteries Burial Search". Waitaki District. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Death of Lord Seafield". The Evening Post. Vol. XCI, no. 5. 7 January 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Dowager Countess". Auckland Star. Vol. LXVI, no. 250. 22 October 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "The Bay of Plenty Times and Thames Valley Warden". Bay of Plenty Times. Vol. XXXI, no. 4850. 15 January 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
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