watercolourist and surgeon, came to Van Diemen’s Land on board the Medway in July 1835. He immediately sought a position in the colonial medical service and in November was appointed a district assistant-surgeon. Within the service he held appointments at Launceston, New Norfolk, Port Arthur, Brighton and Bothwell. He especially appreciated the last for the opportunities it offered him for natural history studies and, at Bothwell in April 1839, resigned from government employment. He married Anne Lind McDowall of Logan, Bothwell, in July. Afterwards they moved to Launceston, where Grant remained, apart from a brief period in 1855-56 spent in the Circular Head area where he had property. He was a member of the Launceston Board of Medical Examiners from 1854 to 1856, and again from December 1863. He died in Melbourne on 23 October 1865 following an operation after a riding accident late in 1864. His widow died in England in January 1887.
A skilful surgeon and enthusiastic naturalist, Grant contributed to the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science and was keenly interested in establishing a natural history museum in the colony. There are only two attributed art works: a small, competent watercolour portrait, The Doctor of the Tasmanian Natives [Woureddy] (QVMAG), and a sketch of three heads in a caricature style, Doctor [Woureddy], Trooganana [Trukanini] and Nelson . Plomley has queried the attribution to Grant, especially of the latter said to have been executed about 1832 and known only from a photograph in the British Museum (Natural History), since Nelson, a one-armed woman, died in July 1829, six years before Grant came to Tasmania.
- Writers:
- Glover, Margaret
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
