Ian Ogilvie-Grant, 8th Earl of Seafield
Ian Charles Ogilvy-Grant, 8th Earl of Seafield (7 October 1851 – 31 March 1884) was a Scottish nobleman. He is numbered as the 27th Chief of Clan Grant.[1] [2]
Genealogy
Seafield was the only child of John Charles Ogilvy-Grant, 7th Earl of Seafield and his wife the Hon. Caroline Stuart. During his minority he was entitled Viscount Reidhaven and Master of Grant. He succeeded his father as Earl of Seafield and Chief of Grant in 1881.[3] [4] [5]
The main residence for Ian Charles, as for his father and mother, was Cullen House in Cullen; Castle Grant, the traditional seat of the Clan Grant, was also occupied when his Strathspey estates were visited.
As he was unmarried and had no children, by a will made c.1882 Ian Charles left his mother as the heir to his estates: Lady Caroline, the Countess Dowager, therefore was proprietor of the Seafield and Grant Estates until her death in 1911. Meanwhile the 8th Earl's titles of honour were inherited by his uncle, James Ogilvy-Grant, 9th Earl of Seafield who was otherwise the nearest male heir. The Seafield title was thus for some generations separated from the lands and properties that had maintained it. This situation had been made possible because the 7th Earl, John Charles, had completed the legal procedure of disentailing the estate.[6]
Public Service
After education at Eton, Ian Charles received a commission as cornet and sub-lieutenant in the First Regiment of Life Guards on 8 December 1869; he was promoted lieutenant in October 1871 and retired from the army in 1877.[7]
On succeeding to his father's seat in the House of Lords, Lord Seafield adhered to the Conservative Party. In the pamphlet published 'In Memoriam' on his death, the editors wrote:[8]
Though a constitutionalist, he was by no means a Tory of the old school. From his earliest years he took a most active part, in every political movement. He knew we live in a progressive age, and that as the nation advances in intelligence, by means of education, certain reforms become necessary, and when the proper time arrives, ought to be carried out. What he did most strenuously object to was hasty legislation, and especially legislation which might lead to the disintegration of the Empire, and to lowering of the National prestige abroad. The attempt to admit an avowed Atheist to the House of Commons was utterly repugnant to his whole nature, and no one rejoiced more than he did at the exclusion of that Atheist. ( Charles Bradlaugh )
Like his father, Ian Charles was ordained as an elder of the Church of Scotland for the Parish of Inverallan and in the Presbytery of Abernethy. He was due to attend the General Assembly of 1884 as a Commissioner for Abernethy when he died. 'In Memoriam' covered this area of his life:[9]
On many public occasions he avowed his adherence to the principle involved in a National recognition of Religion. His regard for the Church of Scotland was profound. It was evidenced by his becoming one of her active Office-bearers, and, had his life been spared, he would during the past Session of the General Assembly, have taken his seat therein, as a member of that Venerable House.
Memorials
The Church of Scotland parish church in Grantown-on-Spey is named ‘The Seafield Memorial Church’, having been erected (on the site of predecessors) at a cost of £7000 by Caroline Stuart, Countess of Seafield, in memory of both her husband John Charles and her son, Ian Charles; it opened on 1st May 1886.[10] The Countess Dowager also built and dedicated to the memory of her son The Ian Charles Hospital in Grantown-on-Spey. [11]
The 8th Earl of Seafield is buried at the Seafield Mausoleum at Duthil Old Parish Church and Churchyard, just outside the village of Duthil, Inverness-shire.
References
- ^ http://www.clangrant.org/index.aspx?pid=19 Accessed April 2017.
- ^ Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville Henry Massue (2003) [First published in 1904]. The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Grants of Honour, Extracted, by Permission, from the Stuart Papers Now in Possession of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, and Supplemented by Biographical and Genealogical Notes. Baltimore. p. 62. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ In Memoriam Ian Charles Eight Earl of Seafield, Twenty-Seventh Chief of the Clan Grant, Inscribed and Presented to The Tenant and Friends of her Son by the Countess Dowager of Seafield. Inverness: The Northern Chronicle Office. 1884. pp. 1–5. Accessed (2017) via archive.org.
- ^ Cassillis, The Earl of (1911). The Rulers of Strathspey. Inverness: The Northern Counties Newspaper and Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd. pp. 167–69. Accessed (2017) via archive.org.
- ^ Strathspey, The Rt. Hon. Lord (1983). A History of Clan Grant. Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. pp. 43–4.
- ^ Strathspey 1983, pp. 42–60.
- ^ Fraser, Sir William (1884). Chiefs of Grant. Edinburgh. p. 495.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Accessed (2017) via archive.org. - ^ In Memoriam Ian Charles Eighth Earl of Seafield, Twenty-Seventh Chief of the Clan Grant, p.3.
- ^ In Memoriam Ian Charles Eighth Earl of Seafield, Twenty-Seventh Chief of the Clan Grant, pp.2-3.
- ^ http://www.inverallanparishchurch.org.uk/ . Accessed April 2017.
- ^ Strathspey 1983, pp. 48.
External links
- Works by or about Ian Ogilvie-Grant, 8th Earl of Seafield at the Internet Archive
- The Clan Grant: http://www.clangrant.org