Author: Grant, Anne
Biography:
Grant, Anne formerly Macvicar (1755-1838: ODNB)
She was born at Glasgow, the daughter of Duncan Macvicar, a farmer and soldier. (Her mother was the daughter of Stewart of Invernahyle.) In 1757 her father obtained a commission in the 77th foot regiment and travelled to America where his wife and daughter soon joined him. Grant was educated by her mother and a Madame Schulyer, a family friend. Although her father purchased land in Vermont in 1765, the family returned to Scotland three years later and, after the War of Independence, the land was confiscated. She married James Grant, military chaplain at Fort Augustus in 1779; the couple had twelve children although just eight were alive at the time of their father’s death in 1801. Grant’s precarious financial situation as a widow on a limited military pension led her to publish her poems and, when they proved popular, other works including her Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlands (1811). Her success took her to Edinburgh where she became acquainted with many literary men and women and enjoyed celebrity status in her own right. She was one of the first to identify Scott as the author of the anonymously published Waverley in 1814, and her published correspondence and memoirs are full of sharply perceptive observations of people and books. She died at Edinburgh, survived by just one of her children. (ODNB 12 Feb. 2019)
Other Names:
- Mrs. Anne Grant
- Mrs. Grant