Francis Ogilvie-Grant, 10th Earl of Seafield explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Earl of Seafield
Birth Date:9 March 1847
Birth Place:Kilmallock, County Limerick, Ireland
Death Place:Oamaru, New Zealand
Resting Place:Oamaru Old Cemetery
Tenure:5 June – 3 December 1888
Other Titles:2nd Baron Strathspey
14th Baronet Colquhoun
Predecessor:James Ogilvie-Grant
Successor:James Ogilvie-Grant
Issue:7, including James and Trevor
Parents:James Ogilvie-Grant, 9th Earl of Seafield
Caroline Evans

Francis William Ogilvie-Grant, 10th Earl of Seafield (9 March 1847 – 3 December 1888), styled Viscount Reidhaven from 1884 to 1888, was a Scottish peer who emigrated to New Zealand.

Early life

Seafield was born on 9 March 1847 in Kilmallock, County Limerick, Ireland.[1] He was the eldest son of James Ogilvie-Grant, 9th Earl of Seafield by his first wife, Caroline Louisa Evans (1820–1850), daughter of Eyre Evans, Esq. of Ash Hill, and Anna Maunsell.[2] After his education at Harrow, he served as a midshipman in the Royal Navy and then joined the merchant navy.

Career

Seafield (then simply known as Frank Grant) arrived in New Zealand in 1870.[3] He bought a farm in the Waiareka Valley in a locality known as Te Aneraki[4] to the west of Oamaru in North Otago. He lost his money through his farming pursuits, and from the late 1870s worked as a labourer in fencing or other available tasks. Some time after the marriage, the impoverished family moved to Oamaru.

He stood twice for election in the electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The first time, he contested the against the incumbent, Samuel Shrimski. When Shrimski was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1885, Grant contested the resulting, but lost against Thomas Hislop.

Later life

In 1884 his cousin, Ian Ogilvie-Grant, 8th Earl of Seafield, died, and the title devolved to the former's uncle, Francis' father. As the heir apparent to the earldom, Grant unexpectedly became Viscount Reidhaven. When his father died on 5 June 1888, he became the Earl of Seafield in the Peerage of Scotland. A subsidiary title was Baron Strathspey in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Seafield died on 3 December 1888 from a heart condition. He is buried at the Oamaru Old Cemetery.[5] He was succeeded by his oldest son in the earldom, James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield, who at the time was twelve years old. He was fatally wounded in World War I in 1915, and was succeeded in the barony of Strathspey, the baronetcy of Colquhoun and as Chief of Clan Grant by his younger brother Hon. Trevor Ogilvie-Grant.[6] The earldom and the other subsidiary Scottish peerages could be passed on to female heirs, and were inherited by Nina Ogilvie-Grant, 12th Countess of Seafield.

After Lord Seafield died, his wife lived for some time in Auckland and Tauranga before moving to England.[7] [8] She died at Brighton on 16 October 1935.

Personal life

On 24 November 1874, Seafield married his first cousin Ann Trevor Corry ('Nina') Evans, daughter of Major George Thomas Evans and Louisa Barbara Corry. They had seven children:

Notes and References

  1. News: Death of the Earl of Seafield . 13 October 2014 . . 1933 . 7 December 1888 . 29.
  2. News: Death of the Earl of Seafield . 13 October 2014 . . X . 4282 . 3 December 1888 . 2.
  3. News: Lady Pauline Ogilvie-Grant Nicholson; Aristocrat . 15 October 2014 . . 5 February 2010.
  4. News: Death of Countess . 14 October 2014 . . LXXII . 22246 . 22 October 1935 . 10.
  5. Web site: Cemeteries Burial Search . 14 October 2014 . . 17 October 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141017173649/http://www.waitaki.govt.nz/services/SitePages/CemeteriesSearch.aspx?Forename=%20&Surname=Seafield&ExactForename=false&ExactSurname=false . dead .
  6. News: 7 January 1916 . Death of Lord Seafield . XCI . 3 . . 5 . 14 October 2014.
  7. News: 22 October 1935 . Dowager Countess . LXVI . 3 . . 250 . 14 October 2014.
  8. News: 15 January 1906 . The Bay of Plenty Times and Thames Valley Warden . XXXI . 2 . . 4850 . 15 October 2014.
  9. News: EARL OF SEAFIELD KILLED.; Was a Captain in Cameron Hlghlanders and Chief of His Clan. . 8 December 2023 . . 16 November 1915.
  10. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 3552.
  11. News: Obituary . 17 October 2014 . . LXIV . 19485 . 5 December 1928 . 16.