Charles Grant

General Sir Charles John Cecil Grant (13 August 1877 – 9 November 1950) was a senior officer in the British Army. He was born on 13 August 1877 and died on 9 November 1950.

Grant was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards on 20 February 1897 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 11 May 1898. He participated in the Second Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1902, serving with the Kimberley relief force. During this conflict, he was wounded at the Battle of Belmont in November 1899. Following the conclusion of the war, Grant was appointed adjutant of the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards on 1 July 1902.

He achieved the rank of major in October 1913. During the First World War, Grant served initially as a brigade major for the 3rd Infantry Brigade, which was part of the British Expeditionary Force deployed to France in August 1914. In December 1915, he succeeded Brigadier General Charles Sackville-West as general staff officer, grade 1 (GSO1), or chief of staff, of the 12th (Eastern) Division. In this capacity, he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1917, Grant became the temporary commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade. The following year, in 1918, he was assigned to the General Headquarters of the French Army as a liaison officer between General Sir Henry Wilson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Marshal Ferdinand Foch.

Throughout World War I, Grant was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was Mentioned in Despatches seven times. He was also wounded during the conflict.

After the war, Grant became the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards in 1919. He then joined the General Staff in Egypt in 1921. His subsequent appointments included commanding the 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade in 1925 and the 8th Infantry Brigade in 1927.

In February 1930, when placed on half-pay, Grant was appointed General Officer Commanding the 53rd (Welsh) Division. He later became Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding the London District in 1932. In 1937, he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Scottish Command and Governor of Edinburgh Castle, a position he held until his retirement in 1940.

Grant served as colonel of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry from February 1931 to 1946, succeeding Major General Raymond Reade. He resided primarily at Pitchford Hall in Shropshire and served as a deputy lieutenant for the county in 1946.

Regarding his family, Grant married Lady Sybil Myra Caroline Primrose in 1903. Lady Sybil was born in 1879 and died in 1955; she was the eldest daughter of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who served as British prime minister from 1894 to 1895. The couple had one son, Charles Robert Archibald Grant, born in 1903 and deceased in 1972, who married Pamela Wellesley, a granddaughter of the 4th Duke of Wellington, in 1935.

Charles Grant died at his wife's property, The Durdans in Epsom, Surrey, at age 73, in November 1950. He was buried in the family grave at Balmacaan, Glen Urquhart, Inverness-shire, Scotland.