Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/410

Rh nominated by Pope Pius IX the first bishop of the new see of Southwark, and was consecrated at Rome by Cardinal Franzoni 6 July 1851. He was eminent for the simplicity and self-denial of his life, and for his extreme modesty. His opinion was frequently sought by the government on points where the canon law and the law of the land appeared to be in conflict, and, according to Bishop Ullathorne, he was very successful in negotiations respecting the appointment of catholic chaplains in the public services. Although suffering from cancer in the stomach, he went to Rome in November 1869 to attend the œcumenical council of the Vatican. He was appointed latinist to the council, and member of the congregation for the oriental rite and the apostolic missions. Ill-health incapacitated him from taking any active duty after 14 Feb. 1870. He died at Rome, 1 June 1870, and was buried in the cemetery attached to the convent at Norwood, Surrey.

A biography of him was published by 'Grace Ramsay' (i.e. Miss Kathleen O'Meara), London, 1874, 8vo, with two photographic portraits. A monument with bust was erected to his memory in St. George's Cathedral, Southwark.

[Life by O'Meara; Brady's Episcopal Succession, vol. iii.; Catholic Directory, 1888, p. 241; Gillow's Bibl. Dict.; Month, new ser. ii. 24; Ornsby's Life of J. R. Hope-Scott; Tablet, 11 June 1870, pp. 741, 746; Ullathorne's Hist. of the Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England; Weekly Register, 4 June 1870.]  GRANT, THOMAS TASSELL (1795–1859), inventor, born in 1795, entered the service in 1812, and in 1828 was appointed storekeeper at the Clarence victualling yard, Gosport. His steam machinery for manufacturing biscuit was invented in 1829, and he was rewarded by a parliamentary grant of 2,000l. and medals from the French crown and the Society of Arts. It effected a saving to the nation of 30,000l. a year. Other important inventions were a new life-buoy, a feathering paddle-wheel, and (about 1839) 'Grant's patent fuel,' which was extensively used in the navy. His greatest achievement was the distilling from the sea of fresh water for drinking and culinary purposes. He had proposed it in 1834, but it was not adopted till fourteen or fifteen years later. In 1850 he became comptroller of the victualling and transport service, and held the post during the Crimean war. The Wye, fitted up with his distilling apparatus, was despatched to the Crimea, and produced ten thousand gallons of fresh water daily. His health broke down under the strain of the war, and he retired in 1858 and was created K.C.B. He was a prominent member of the Royal Society. He died 15 Oct. 1859, at his house in Chester Terrace, Regent's Park.

[Times obituary; Gent. Mag. 1859, ii. 534; Men of the Reign.]  GRANT, WILLIAM, (1701?–1764), Scotch judge, was the second son of Sir Francis Grant [q.v.], lord Cullen, by his second wife, Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Alexander Fordyce of Ayton, Berwickshire. He was admitted an advocate on 24 Feb. 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 'Remarks on the State of the Church of Scotland with respect to Patronages, and with reference to a Bill now depending before Parliament,' a pamphlet which was reprinted in 1841 as No. 6 of the 'Select Anti-patronage Library,' Edinburgh, 8vo. On 20 June 1737 he succeeded Charles Erskine of Tinwald as solicitor-general, and on 28 Aug. in the following year was constituted one of the commissioners for improving the fisheries and manufactures of Scotland. Upon Robert Craigie's retirement Grant was appointed lord advocate on 26 Feb. 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' (Journals of the Home of Commons, xxv. 332). 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' (Letters, Cunningham's edit. ii. 81). This important measure of Scotch reform was subsequently carried through both houses and passed (20 Geo. II, c. 43), as well as another bill, which had been introduced by the lord advocate and the English law officers, for the abolition of ward holding (20 Geo. II, c. 50). 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 (Parl. History, xiv. 533-8). On 24 Feb. 1752 he introduced a bill for annexing the forfeited estates in Scotland to the crown inalienably, which after some opposition became law (25 Geo. II, c. 41). He was for the third time returned for the Elgin burghs at the general election in May 1754, but vacated his seat