Francis Chapman Grant

Francis Chapman Grant (1823 – 1889^[1] or 1894^[2]) was a merchant in the Gold Coast. His nephew was the football player Arthur Wharton,^[3] and his grandson was the merchant and politician Paa Grant.

Francis Chapman Grant

Biography

Son of a British father from Scotland and an African mother, Grant was educated in the United States, where according to one story he was a schoolboy contemporary of Ulysses Grant,^[4] while he is also listed as his cousin.^[5] He became a schoolteacher in his father's native United Kingdom before becoming a merchant in Cape Coast. He was chairman of the Cold Coast Native Concessions Purchasing Company, and from 1858 a member of the Cape Coast Town Council.^[1] He played a role as a founding member, Honorary Treasurer and vice-president of the 1867–74 Fante Confederation, and served as an extraordinary and unofficial member of the Gold Coast Legislative Council in 1863–66, 1869, 1871, 1873 and 1887.^[2] A member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, he was a local preacher. He was owner of the Gold Coast Times, a weekly newspaper.^[3]

His nephew was Arthur Wharton, the first black professional football player, and his surviving relatives include Hilda Prah (née Abban), David Prah-Annan, Sefa Gohoho of Songhai Africa and Canoe Africa Luxury Magazine.

References

1. Michael R. Doortmont, The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities by Charles Francis Hutchison: A Collective Biography of Elite Society in the Gold Coast Colony, Brill, 2005, p. 241
2. Daniel Miles McFarland, "Grant, Francis Chapman", Historical Dictionary of Ghana, 1985.
3. Ray Jenkins, "Salvation for the Fittest? A West African Sportsman in the Age of the New Imperialism", in J. A. Mangan, The Cultural Bond: sport, empire, society, 1992, p. 92.
4. Francis Hutchison, The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities: a collective biography of elite society in the Gold Coast Colony, The African Library Press, undated [1929/30?], p. 103. Reprinted Brill, ed. Michel R. Doortmont, 2005.
5. "Notable Cape Coasters ... Hon Francis Chapman Grant 1823-1889; Founding Member of the Fanti Confederation. Cousin of Ulysses Grant." Archived 2013-04-18 at archive.today Cape Coast page at Globio.travel.