Guide to the Papers of John Grant, 1769-1810

Summary

Collection number:

MS 737

Creator:

John Grant and Cramer, Yvonne

Extent:

(1 ms box + 2 security binders + 1 large folio item + 6 folders)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], MS 737, National Library of Australia, Papers of John Grant, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection consists chiefly of letters by Grant to his mother and sister Matilda in England, 1803-1810, and a journal, Jan. 1805 - March 1810, written in French and transcribed and translated by W.S. Hill-Reid, Yvonne Cramer and others. The letters and journal contain detailed accounts of Grant's voyage on the Coromandel, his experiences in the colony and descriptions of the people he encountered, including Major George Johnston, Jude Richard Atkins, Charles Bishop, Sir Henry Hayes, Simeon Lord, John Palmer, Governors King, Bligh and McGuene. A transcription of John Grant's journal by W.S. Hill-Reid, Joan O'Hagan and others forms part of the collection. The collection also includes correspondence with Robert Campbell while John Grant was on Norfolk Island and a copy of his 'Bond of union', 1805, his instrument of protest that resulted in his deportation to Norfolk Island. Also included in the collection are petitions; certificates; legal documents; correspondence with Robert Campbell, 1806-1807; a notebook kept on his return to Sydney from Norfolk Island, 1809; poetry written while at Parramatta and Norfolk Island, 1804-1805; and other papers.

Biographical Note:

John Grant was born in 1776 in Buckinghamshire, England and educated at Christ's Hospital. Grant was sentenced to death for firing at a family solicitor who frustrated his attempts to woo the daughter of Lord Dudley and Ward. After a petition by his sister to the daughters of George III, he was reprieved and sent to New South Wales for life. Grant was transported on the Coromandel and arrived in Sydney in May 1804.

Although he was in many ways a privileged convict on ticket-of-leave, Grant was influenced by Sir Henry Browne Hays and in May 1805 expressed public criticism of Governor King, his officials and the convict system. Grant's refusal to retract his views led to five years hard labour in Norfolk Island and Phillip Island in Van Diemen's Land, which reduced him almost to death.

Grant returned to Sydney upon completion of his sentence in 1808 and obtained a post as chaplain in Newcastle. He was later granted a full pardon by Macquarie and sailed to England in 1811 in the Spring Grove.

Grant wrote poetry during his period in Australia, although only one poem Panegyrie on an eminent artist, written on the naturalist J.W. Lewin, was published in his lifetime.

Sources: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (Carlton, Vic. : Melb. Univ. Press, 1966).

Provenance:

The collection was discovered in the vaults of Lloyd's Bank in London by Mr W.S. Hill-Reid. Mr Hill-Reid used the documents as the basis for his book John Grant's journey : a convict's story, 1803-1811 (London : Heinemann, 1957). The collection was acquired by the Library in 1957. Yvonne Cramer later used the papers for her book This beauteous, wicked place : the letters and journals of John Grant, gentleman convict. (Canberra : National Library of Australia, 2000).

Indexed terms

Names:

Cramer, Yvonne

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2963493).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], MS 737, National Library of Australia, Papers of John Grant, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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