GRANT 



2565 



GRANT 



GEORGE MONRO GRANT 



the most brilliant and most versatile men of 

 his time, noted for his eloquence on the politi- 

 cal platform no less than in the pulpit. He 

 was for twenty- 

 five years the dis- 

 tinguished princi- 

 pal of Queen's 

 University, which 

 was transformed, 

 under his leader- 

 ship, from a small 

 denomina- 

 tional college 

 into one of Can- 

 ada's leading 

 educational insti- 

 tutions. Dr. 

 Grant was born at Albion Mines (now Stellar- 

 ton), N. S., and attended Pictou Academy, 

 where he took more than his share of prizes 

 and was also known as the best fighter of his 

 age in the school. When he was eighteen he 

 was chosen by the Synod of Nova Scotia as 

 one of four young men who were to be sent 

 to the University of Glasgow to be fitted for 

 the Presbyterian ministry. At Glasgow his 

 career was brilliant; he took highest honors in 

 philosophy and first prizes in the classics, moral 

 philosophy and chemistry. At the same time 

 nothing better, testifies to his unique position 

 among his fellow students than that he was 

 president of the Conservative Club, of the 

 Missionary Society and of the Football Club. 

 In addition to these activities he earned his 

 own living, and after four years of college was 

 able to repay to the Synod the money which 

 had been advanced to him when he left Nova 

 Scotia. 



On the completion of his studies in 1860 he 

 was ordained a minister, and the next year 

 returned to Canada, where the varied interests 

 characteristic of him in boyhood were no less 

 prominent in manhood. After spending two 

 years as a missionary on Prince Edward Island, 

 he was made pastor of Saint Matthew's Church, 

 Halifax, where he remained until he was 

 chosen, in 1877, to the principalship of Queen's. 

 The years at Halifax were busy ones, for in 

 addition to his usual pastoral duties he acted 

 ;is trust oe of Dalhousie University and of tho 

 Presbyterian Theological Seminary and served 

 on numerous committees of the church. He 

 was one of those responsible for the union of 

 the four branches of the Presbyterian Church 

 in Canada in 1875. Ho was an unlmt ami 

 public advocate of Confederation of the prov- 



inces in 1867 and was always interested in 

 political affairs. It was typical of the man, 

 however, that his activity was not confined to 

 his Church or to his party, and every good 

 cause was sure of his support. The converse 

 was also true, that any cause he supported was 

 sure to be a good cause, with the result, as 

 one of his biographers says, that probably "no 

 man in Canada ever succeeded as Dr. Grant 

 did while in Halifax in raising money for 

 various worthy objects connected with <-dura- 

 tion, religion and general benevolence." 



From 1877 until his death he held, as prin- 

 cipal of Queen's, a conspicuous place in the 

 educational world. A born leader and a splen- 

 did worker, he gathered around him an en- 

 thusiastic band of helpers, and under him every 

 department of the university developed with 

 great rapidity. As a teacher he was always 

 interesting, probably because he himself was 

 always interested, both in young men and in 

 teaching. In later years he became an ardent 

 Imperialist, and he lost no opportunity to 

 emphasize his opinion that Canada's future 

 was bound up with the British Empire. He 

 wrote many magazine articles and pamphlet*, 

 and a few books, including Ocean to Ocean, the 

 account of an overland journey from Toronto 

 to British Columbia in 1872; Our National 

 Objects and Aims; Advantages of Imperial 

 Federation; The Religions of the World; l{<- 

 formers of the Nineteenth Century; and 

 French-Canadian Life and Character. G.H.L. 



GRANT, ROBERT (1852- ). an American 

 writer whose Unleavened Bread, a "problem" 

 novel of the less unpleasant type, was one of 

 the popular books of its year. Grant was born 

 in Boston and studied at Harvard, receiving 

 his Doctor's degree and graduating in law 

 from that institution. He began to prut-tin- 

 law in his native city in 1879, and from tin 

 first was successful. In 1888 he was made a 

 water commissioner for Boston, ami five yc-ai> 

 later was appointed judge of the Probatt- ('nun 

 and of the Court of Insolvency for Suffolk 

 County, Mass. This post he has held ever 

 since, and since 1895 he has been an overseer of 

 Harvard University. Jlr married in 1883' a 

 daughter of Sir Alexander T. Gait of Montreal. 

 Judge Grant's works include, in addition to (hr 

 novel mentioned above, The Undercurrent, The 

 Bachelor's Christmas, The Orchid and The 

 Chippendales, and volumes of essays entitled 

 The Opinions of n PhilotOpher and The Art nf 

 Living. Ho has m-vcr lived elsewhere than in 

 Boston. 



