William Grant, Lord Prestongrange and Isle of Missing Men

Grant was procurator for the Church of Scotland and Clerk to the General Assembly in 1731. He campaigned against patronage in the Church. He was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland in 1737 and promoted to Lord Advocate in 1746. He was Member of Parliament for Elgin Burghs from 1747 to 1754, and carried bills for the abolition of heritable jurisdictions, wardholding and for annexation of forfeited estates to the Crown. He was appointed a Lord of Session and Justiciary as Lord Prestongrange in 1754, and a Commissioner of annexed estates in 1755.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Works 3 Assessment 4 Family 5 Culture 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading

Biography

William Grant was the second son of Sir Francis Grant, Lord Cullen, by his second wife, Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Alexander Fordyce of Ayton, Berwickshire. He was admitted an advocate on 24 February 1722, and on 13 May 1731 was appointed procurator for the church of Scotland, and principal clerk to the general assembly.

In 1736 Grant wrote a pamphlet Remarks on the State of the Church of Scotland with respect to Patronages, and with reference to a Bill now depending before Parliament, On 20 June 1737 he succeeded Charles Erskine of Tinwald as Solicitor General, and on 28 August in the following year was constituted one of the commissioners for improving the fisheries and manufactures of Scotland. Upon the retirement of Robert Craigie, Grant was appointed Lord Advocate on 26 February 1746, and on 20 May following the assembly held that the lord advocate could not act as procurator and clerk, and that consequently these offices were vacated.

At a by-election in February 1747 Grant was returned to parliament as member for the Elgin Burghs, and on 1 April 1747 was "added to the gentlemen who are appointed to prepare and bring in a bill for taking away and abolishing the heretable jurisdictions in … Scotland". Grant took part in the debate on the second reading of the bill, and is said by Horace Walpole to have spoken "excessively well for it". This important measure of Scottish reform was subsequently carried through both houses and passed, as well as another bill, which had been introduced by the lord advocate and the English law officers, for the abolition of ward holding.

At the general election in July 1747 Grant was again returned for the Elgin burghs, and in April 1749 supported the grant to the city of Glasgow for the losses sustained during the rebellion in a vigorous speech. On 24 February 1752 he introduced a bill for annexing the forfeited estates in Scotland to the crown inalienably, which after some opposition became law.

He was for the third time returned for the Elgin burghs at the general election in May 1754, but vacated his seat on his appointment as an ordinary lord of session and a Lord of Justiciary in the place of Patrick Grant, Lord Elchies. He took his seat on the bench on 14 November 1754, and assumed the title of Lord Prestongrange. In the following year he was appointed one of the commissioners for the annexed estates. Grant died at Bath on 23 May 1764, aged 63, and was buried on 7 June following in the aisle of Prestonpans Church, Haddingtonshire, where a monument in the churchyard was erected to his memory. Works

Grant is said to have written The occasional Writer, containing an Answer to the second Manifesto of the Pretender's eldest Son, which bears date at the Palace of Holyrood House, 10 October 1745; containing Reflections, political and historical, upon the last Revolution, and the Progress of the present Rebellion in Scotland,' London, 1745, 8vo. The authorship of this pamphlet has, however, also been ascribed to Thomas Hollis. Assessment

Tytler speaks highly of his integrity, candour, and "winning gentleness", and says that his "conduct in the adjustment of the claims on the forfeited estates merited universal approbation". With the exception of the proceedings at the trial of James Stewart in May 1752 (where as Lord Advocate he was chief prosecutor), Grant's conduct as public prosecutor was both fair and moderate. Family

Grant married Grizel (died 1792), daughter of the Rev. – Millar. They had four daughters: Janet, who married John, 4th Earl of Hyndford; Agnes, who married Sir George Suttie, Baronet, of Balgone; Jean, who married Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger, the second lord president of that name; and Christian, who died unmarried in 1761.

On the death of Janet, Countess of Hyndford in 1818, her nephew, Sir James Suttie, succeeded to the Preston-Grange estate (purchased by Grant in 1746), and assumed the additional surname of Grant. Culture

Grant was the chief prosecutor of "James of the Glen" Stewart for aiding and abetting "The Appin Murder" – the May 1752 ambush and murder of Colin "The Red Fox" Campbell. This incident is described in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Catriona where he appears as Lord Prestongrange. Notes ^ a b Barker 1888, p. 404. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404cites Remarks on the State of the Church of Scotland with respect to Patronages, and with reference to a Bill now depending before Parliament was reprinted in 1841 as No. 6 of the Select Anti-patronage Library, Edinburgh, 8vo. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404 cites: Journals of the Home of Commons, xxv. 332. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404 cites: Horace Walpole Letters, Cunningham's edit. ii. 81. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404 cites: 20 Geo. II, c. 43. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404 cites: 20 Geo. II, c. 50. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404 cites: Parl. History, xiv. 533-8. ^ Barker 1888, p. 404 cites: 25 Geo. II, c. 41. ^ Barker 1888, pp. 404,405. ^ There is an engraving by J. McArdell, after the portrait of Grant by Ramsay, painted in 1751 (Barker 1888, p. 405). ^ Barker 1888, p. 405 and cites Halkett and Laing, vol. iii. 1797. ^ Barker 1888, p. 405 cites Memoirs of Lord Kames, 1814, i. 57. ^ Holcombe 2004, p. 356. ^ Barker 1888, p. 405 cites Howell, State Trials, 1813, xix. 1–262. ^ a b c Barker 1888, p. 405.

Isle of Missing Men and William Grant, Lord Prestongrange

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 Production 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 External links

Plot summary

Merrill Hammond, governor on the prison island of Caruba, is traveling with S.S. Bombay towards Australia. The ship is attacked by japanese bombers and the ship has to rwturn to Caruba. Merrill invites one of the other passengers, a woman named Diana Bryce, to stay at his place while they wait for another transport.

The island inhabitants are few; there is Doc Brown, the prison doctor and George Kent, prison administrator.

Diana gets to stay in a house that Merrill originally built for his wife, who died shortly after her arrival to the island. Her presence is not appreciated by Kent, who dislikes the idea of a woman living there. Diana is interested in the prisoners and expresses a wish to see them.

Soon after Doc Brown tells of a typhoid epidemic on the island. While the four inhabitants have dinner one night, they are watched by Dan Curtis, one of the convicts, who has been found guilty of murder. The others are unaware that Diana is in fact Dan's wife. Dan is discovered and sent back to his room.

In the night, Diana secretly meets Dan and explains that she is there to set him free. He tells her he will try to escape, but she wants him to wait until his retrial, where she will help him get a new verdict. Kent hears someone talking and is about to investigate, when Merrill comes around and leaves Diana a book, this interrupting Kent in his search. Diana gives her money and jewels to Dan to help him in his escape.

Kent looks closer into Curtis' background, and finds the jewels when he searches his room. To avoid surprises he puts Curtis in an isolation cell, which makes it impossible for him to break out.

Diana tries to get Brown on her side, twlling him about her husband. She wants the doctor to tell the others that Curtis has died from the epidemic and help him escape. The doctor agrees.

While Diana is left alone in the doctor's office, she happens to look into Curtis' records and finds out that he is a pathological liar and two-timer. She is appalled by this, and when Curtis has been sqfely stored on a ship on its way from the island, she tells him she will leave him because she doesn't live him anymore.

The doctor tells Merrill what he has done, but Merrill lets Curtis escape because of Diana, whom he has fallen in love with. When Kent questions his decisions and judgement, he resigns his position.

During a fight aboard the ship, Curtis is killed, and Diana returns to the island to look for Merrill. She finds him and confesses her love for him, and they leave the island together. Cast John Howard - Merrill Hammond Helen Gilbert - Diana Bryce Gilbert Roland - Thomas 'Dan' Bentley, alias Curtis Alan Mowbray - Doctor Henry Brown Bradley Page - George Kent George Chandler - Bar Steward Ernie Adams - Captain Sanchez of the Mariposa Geraldine Gray - Sally - Ship Passenger Egon Brecher - Richard Heller Kitty O'Neil - Nurse Pauline Kenne Duncan - Bob Henderson Charles Williams - Jo-Jo Dewey Robinson - Prisoner Tony Alex Havier - Sani Production

The film was made by Oswald for the Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures. Oswald was an exiled Austrian director who had fled Germany when the Nazis came to power going to France, Britain and finally to Hollywood where he made a handful of films.
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