James Macpherson Grant

[3] Grant obtained some schooling at Kingdenie[2] and emigrated to Sydney with his parents in 1836 and was articled to Chambers and Thurlow, solicitors.

[2] He was practising as a solicitor at Melbourne in 1854, and showed much sympathy for the diggers (miners) at the time of the Eureka rebellion in December 1854.

The mayor of Melbourne, John Thomas Smith, had called a meeting at the town hall to concert measures for keeping law and order.

Grant and Dr J. H. Owens issued a placard asking the public not to go to the town hall, but to attend an open-air meeting on the present site of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.

Grant interpreted this very liberally and many applicants were allowed to hold four licences and thus farms of 80 acres (32 ha) were established.

Grant had a stroke of paralysis in November 1884 and died on 1 April 1885, leaving a widow, a son and three daughters.