Francis Chapman Grant (1823 – 1889 or 1894) was a merchant in the Gold Coast. His nephew was the football player Arthur Wharton, and his grandson was the merchant and politician Paa 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, while he is also listed as his cousin."Notable Cape Coasters ... Hon Francis Chapman Grant 1823-1889; Founding Member of the Fanti Confederation. Cousin of Ulysses Grant."
Cape Coast page at Globio.travel. He became a schoolteacher in his father's native United Kingdom before becoming a merchant in

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...

. He was chairman of the Cold Coast Native Concessions Purchasing Company, and from 1858 a member of the Cape Coast Town Council.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 He played a role as a founding member, Honorary Treasurer and vice-president of the 1867–74

Fante Confederation The Fante Confederacy refers either to the alliance of the Fante states in existence at least since the sixteenth century, or it can also refer to the modern Confederation formed in 1868. The Confederation is seen as one of the first and most prom ...

, and served as an extraordinary and unofficial member of the Gold Coast Legislative Council in 1863–66, 1869, 1871, 1873 and 1887.Daniel Miles McFarland, "Grant, Francis Chapman", ''Historical Dictionary of Ghana'', 1985. A member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, he was a local preacher. He was owner of the ''Gold Coast Times'', a weekly newspaper.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. 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

1823 births 1894 deaths Ghanaian people of Scottish descent {{Ghana-bio-stub