Dr. James Grant, father of James Alexander, emigrated to Canada soon after his son’s birth at Inverness in 1831. Thus the son came to be educated in Canada, first at Martintown, Ontario, and then at Queen’s College, Kingston, and McGill University. Graduating in 1854, he settled in practice at Ottawa, which was to be the scene of a long career distinguished by service both to his profession and to Canada as a whole. In the medical field, Grant was president of the Ontario Medical Council in 1868, of the Canadian Medical Association in 1874, and of the Ottawa General Hospital for twenty-five years. In a wider sphere, he was vice-president of the Department of Surgery of the International Medical Council at Philadelphia in 1876 and of the International Medical Congress at Washington in 1887. A well-informed writer on tuberculosis, he also presided over the Tuberculosis Association of Canada in 1901 and, as a geologist of repute, held office as president of the Royal Society of Canada in the same year.

Grant became known to the public as Member of the Canadian Parliament for Russell from 1865 to 1873 and again as Member for Ottawa from 1892 to 1896. In the former period, he introduced the first Pacific Railway Bill (1872) — the original project for a transcontinental railway — and promoted the admission of Columbia and the North-West Territories to the Confederation. During the latter, he supported a motion to extend the Dominion franchise to women. He married in 1856 Maria, daughter of Edward Malloch, M.P, and had seven children.

G H Brown

[Lancet, 1920; B.M.J., 1920; J.A.M.A., 1920]