Francis Chapman Grant

Francis Chapman Grant (1823–1889[1] or 1894[2]) was a merchant in the Gold Coast. His nephew was the football player Arthur Wharton,[3] and his grandson was the merchant and politician Paa Grant.

Biography

Son of a British father from Scotland and an African mother, Grant was educated in the United States, where according to one story he was a schoolboy contemporary of Ulysses Grant,[4] while he is also listed as his cousin.[5] He became a schoolteacher in his father's native United Kingdom before becoming a merchant in Cape Coast. He was chairman of the Cold Coast Native Concessions Purchasing Company, and from 1858 a member of the Cape Coast Town Council.[1] He played a role as a founding member, Honorary Treasurer and Vice-President of the 1867-74 Fante Confederation, and served as an extraordinary and unofficial member of the Gold Coast Legislative Council in 1863-66, 1869, 1871, 1873 and 1887.[2] A member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, he was a local preacher. He was owner of the Gold Coast Times, a weekly newspaper.[3]

His surviving relatives include Hilda Prah(née Abban), David Prah-Annan, Sefa Gohoho of Songhai Africa and Canoe Africa Luxury Magazine, and Arthur Wharton, the 1st black professional football player.

References

  1. 1 2 Michael R. Doortmont, The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities by Charles Francis Hutchison: A Collective Biography of Elite Society in the Gold Coast Colony, Brill, 2005, p. 241
  2. 1 2 Daniel Miles McFarland, 'Grant, Francis Chapman', Historical Dictionary of Ghana, 1985
  3. 1 2 Ray Jenkins, "Salvation for the Fittest? A West African Sportsman in the Age of the New Imperialism", in J. A. Mangan, The Cultural Bond: sport, empire, society, 1992, p. 92.
  4. ↑ Francis Hutchison, The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities: a collective biography of elite society in the Gold Coast Colony, The African Library Press, undated [1929/30?], p. 103. Reprinted Brill, ed. Michel R. Doortmont, 2005.
  5. ↑ "Notable Cape Coasters ... Hon Francis Chapman Grant 1823-1889; Founding Member of the Fanti Confederation. Cousin of Ulysses Grant." Cape Coast page at Globio.travel.


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