Nova Scotia
Map of Halifax, Nova Scotia (1763) from Library of Congress.
Nova Scotia was the easternmost outpost of the North American colony in 1750 and, for strategic reasons, was chosen as the site for a new town which would be settled by Edward Cornwallis. Surrounded by indigenous people, Halifax was sporadically attacked but, despite this, it grew around St Paul’s Church and soon became an important naval base for the Royal Navy. That base required supplies and the firm of Robert Grant & Co moved quickly to set up a trading and supply office. They sent John Grant and Peter Stewart with a consignment of goods and, while the latter chose to move further west where he made considerable wealth in and around Quebec and the St Lawrence, John remained in Halifax where he became part of a small group of educated friends. He trained as a lawyer there but, after ten years in Nova Scotia, he grew restless and planned to travel to Jamaica. Francis, meanwhile, was learning the trade of bookkeeping and management in Canada. This would stand him in good stead when he followed his brother to Jamaica.
Less than a century and two generations later another Francis Grant, a young officer in the British Army, would find himself in Quebec along with his uncle, the 8th Earl of Elgin.