James Grant (Scottish bishop)

James Grant (July 1706 – 3 December 1778) was a Scottish priest and bishop who served as a missionary for the illegal and underground Catholic Church in Scotland upon the Isle of Barra and later as the vicar apostolic of the Lowland District.

According to Bishop John Geddes, "Early in the spring of 1746, some ships of war came to the coast of the isle of Barra and landed some men, who threatened they would lay desolate the whole island if the priest was not delivered up to them.

Father James Grant, who was missionary then, and afterwards Bishop, being informed of the threats in a safe retreat in which he was in a little island, surrendered himself, and was carried prisoner to Mingarry Castle on the Western coast (i.e. Ardnamurchan) where he was detained for some weeks.

The people of the town, out of humanity, furnished them with some little conveniences, and among other things gave to each a bottle, which they hung out of the window in the morning and got filled with water.

But one morning the sentinels accused the prisoners to the visiting officer of having entered into a conspiracy to knock them on the head with bottles, which they had procured for that purpose.