Colonel Francis William Ogilvie-Grant, 6th Earl of Seafield (6 March 1778 – 30 July 1853), known for most of his life as Francis William Grant, was a Scottish nobleman, soldier and politician. He is numbered as the 25th Chief of Clan Grant.
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Early life
Born on 6 March 1778 as Francis William Grant, he was the second son of Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet (known as "the Good Sir James") and his wife Jean Duff. His mother was daughter of Alexander Duff, 2nd of Hatton, and Lady Anne Duff, herself a daughter of William Duff, 1st Earl Fife.
Owing to the mental incapacity of his brother Lewis Alexander Grant (and the earlier deaths of two older brothers) from 1811, he acted as Curator of the Grant Estates and those of the Seafield Earldom until he succeeded as Earl of Seafield in his own right in 1840.
Career
He began a military career when aged 15 in 1793 as a lieutenant in the Strathspey Fencibles. After time in other regiments, he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the Third Argyllshire Fencibles in 1799 and served with them as part of the Gibraltar garrison in 1800 and 1801. He received a commission as a full Colonel in the British Army in 1809 on appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Inverness. Meanwhile, 'Colonel Grant', as he was known, entered Parliament and followed a political path.