MAJOR-GENERAL.
Sir Colquhoun Grant, K.C.B., W.
“Descended from the Grants of Gartenbeg.” In order to show the antiquity of the great “Clan Grant,” one of the name asserted that the verse in the Old Testament, saying, “There were giants in the earth in those days” had been wrongly translated, and that it ought to read: “There were Grants in those days.” This genealogical flight reminds one of the story of a negro servant, Deemers by name, who, hearing his Yankee master everlastingly talking of his ancestors, cut into the conversation one fine morning when waiting at table with the following: “Massa, an ancestor of mine is mentioned in de Bible; I heard de minister read out last Sunday a chapter about a coloured man—one nigger Deemers!”
Colquhoun Grant commanded the 72nd Regt. in the expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, under Sir David Baird, in 1806, and on 8th Jan. was wounded in the action with the Batavian army. In Sir D. Baird’s despatch, announcing the victory of the British troops, occurs this passage: “Your lordship will perceive the name of Lt.-Col. Grant among the wounded; but the heroic spirit of this officer was not subdued by his misfortune, and he continued to lead his men to glory as long as an enemy was opposed to the 72nd Regt.” The following is an authentic anecdote:—
Sir Colquhoun Grant, being in command of a regt. at Clonmel, he gave offence in some way to an honest shopkeeper, named Mulcahy, who struck him on the parade, in presence of his whole corps. The officers rushed forward to seize the delinquent, but Sir Colquhoun interposed, declaring that he had been the aggressor, and as the gentleman thought proper to resent his conduct in so gross a manner, it remained for him to seek the usual reparation. “Oh!” exclaimed Mulcahy, “if it’s for fighting you are, I’ll fight you; but it shall neither be with swords nor pistols, nor anything else but my two fists” (and fine big mutton fists they were, sure enough). “Well, then,” replied the gallant officer, “with all my heart. By insulting you, I have put myself on a level with you, and of course cannot refuse to meet you on your own terms. Come along, sir.” The men were dismissed; and Col. Grant, accompanied by his adversary and some mutual friends, repaired to the mess-room, where he very speedily closed up Mr. Mulcahy’s peepers, and sent him home perfectly satisfied. That was the proudest day of Mulcahy’s life, and many a time has he boasted of the black eye he got from a K.C.B., as if it were an honourable ordinary emblazoned upon his escutcheon. “Ever since that morning,” would he say, “let me meet Sir Colquhoun Grant, where I might, in town or country, among lords or ladies, dressed in plain clothes or dizened out in gold and scarlet, he would give me his hand and say,‘How are you, Billy?’”
In Aug., 1808, Grant was appointed lt.-col. of the 15th Lt. Dns., and served in the Pa. Had five horses shot under him at Waterloo. G.C.B., G.C.H. Col.-in-Chf. 15th Hussars, 1827. Lt.-Gen. Succeeded to a large property at Frampton, co. Dorset, 1833, M. Marcia, dau. of Rev. J. Richards, of Long Bredy, co. Dorset, and had an only surviving child, Marcia, who eloped with Richard Brinsley Sheridan in May 1835. Sir C. Grant d., 20th Dec., 1835.
AIDE-DE-CAMP.
Lt. R. Mansfield, 15th Hussars, W.
Eldest son of Francis Mansfield, of Castle Wray, by Margaret West, grand-dau. of John Leonard, of co. Fermanagh. Left the army soon after obtaining his troop in 15th Hussars. D. 12th Nov., 1854.