Walter Colquhoun Grant (27 May 1822 – 27 August 1861) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and a pioneer settler in the former

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long Oregon boundary dispute, dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been demarcat ...

(shared / temporarily jointly occupied with the Americans of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) in western

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

on the continent of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. What is today the Province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

along the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

coast in the future

Dominion of Canada While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec C ...

(after 1867). He served briefly as a colonial surveyor but left after a few years to rejoin the Army. He died while in the military service in

Saugor Sagar, formerly Saugor, is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sagar district of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. It's Madhya Pradesh's 6th largest city of by Population. The city is situated on a ...

(now

Sagar, Madhya Pradesh Sagar, formerly Saugor, is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sagar district of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. It's Madhya Pradesh's List of cities in Madhya Pradesh by population, 6th largest city ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

), (future

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

after 1947) at the young age of 39 years old.

Early life

Grant was born in Edinburgh on 27 May 1822 into a military family, his father, Colquhoun Grant, having been chief of intelligence for

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Grant first joined the British Army sometime before 7 April 1843 when he was promoted, by

purchase Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary g ...

, to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), having previously served in the regiment as a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

. He purchased the rank of captain on 18 April 1845.

Settlement in the colony

Grant was the youngest

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the

at age 24 when he lost his fortune and started anew by buying of land from the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

at what would become

Sooke, British Columbia Sooke () is a district municipality on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, by road from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Sooke, the westernmost of Greater Victoria's Western Communities, is to the north and west of t ...

. Although some sources claim he left the army altogether, the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' shows that initially at least he merely transferred to the 47th Regiment of Foot. This would have raised a certain amount of capital, as cavalry commissions were more expensive than those in infantry regiments. Vancouver Island was first opened to settlement by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1849. At the outset there was little interest because of land cost (£1 per acre compared to free in the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Oreg ...

) and because of the requirement that settlers bring other workers or families with them. Grant was the only settler to make the commitment initially and became the first independent colonist to settle on the island. He sent 8 settlers on in advance and upon his arrival in 1849 he is said to have shot a cow believing it to be a buffalo. Although he lacked the necessary skills, he was employed by the HBC as its first surveyor. He resigned that role in March 1850 without completing a single survey. Following his arrival, he cleared some of the land he had purchased and set up a sawmill. The land was located from Fort Victoria. Grant left the colony in 1850 to prospect for gold in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and came back in 1853 to sell his land.

Achievements

While in the colony he collected data about the flora, fauna, natives and trade the later published in Journal of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

and did a map of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

drawn by John Arrowsmith. He reported the population in 1853 was 450 people, 300 at

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, 125 at

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

and the remainder at

Fort Rupert Fort Rupert is the site of a former Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fort on the east coast near the northern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The unincorporated community on Beaver Harbour is about by road southeast of Port Hardy. Coal & ...

. He ignored native peoples in his count. In addition to being the first to bring non-HBC settlers to the

Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. ...

, Grant is credited with bringing the first sports event,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, to what is now British Columbia when he arrived in 1849. He introduced what is now considered a noxious, invasive plant,

common broom ''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Great Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used for ...

, to the island.

Later life

On 1 August 1854 he was appointed Captain Commandant (though confusingly he was also granted local rank as

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

) of a detachment of the Mounted Staff Corps to serve with a part of the British Army that was being deployed to Turkey in advance of what would eventually become the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. He was promoted local lieutenant colonel on 27 October 1855. He was granted regimental rank as a cornet in the

2nd Dragoon Guards The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several ...

on 30 November 1855, and promoted to lieutenant on 16 June 1857. He was awarded the Turkish decoration of the Order of the Medjidieh, 4th Class for his service. The conflict in Crimea over, he served in India. He was

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section direct ...

at Lucknow, and during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

commanded 1st Hodson's Horse. He died in India at the age of 39.

References

External links

Captain Grant shoots a cow on Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill Park History By Janis Ringuette 2004.
Grant's Description of Vancouver Island

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

catalogue entry, Read, 22 June 1857.
Contact and conflict: Indian-European relations in British Columbia, 1774-1890
By Robin Fisher at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

.
Wakefield, Wickets and Captain Grant
Victoria's Pioneer Cricketers, University of Victoria

Government of Manitoba {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Walter Colquhoun 1822 births 1861 deaths Pre-Confederation British Columbia people Hudson's Bay Company people Canadian surveyors British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Military personnel from Edinburgh Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 4th class British Army personnel of the Crimean War Royal Scots Greys officers 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) officers British East India Company Army officers