Peter Leslie Grant, Twentieth Baron of Balquhain

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"Peter Leslie Grant,

"Twentieth Baron of Balquhain.

"By a decision of the Court of Session, 5th February 1762, Peter Leslie Grant, son of Captain John Grant, son of John Roy Grant of Ballindalloch, and Lady Anne Francisca, second daughter of Count Patrick Leslie, fifteenth Baron of Balquhain, was declared nearest Protestant heir of tailzie to the estate of Balquhain; all the other nearear heirs being declared incapable to succeed because they were either aliens born out of the allegiance of the crown of Great Britain, or were persons professing the popish religion. Therefore Count Anthony Leslie, who had succeedd to the estate of Balquhain as nineteenth baron, in virtue of a decision of the House of Lords in his favour, 29th April 1742, was obliged to denude himself of the estate of Balquhain in favour of Peter Leslie Grant, who became twentieth Baron of Balquhain.

"Lady Anne Francisca Leslie, second daughter of Count Patrick Leslie, married John Roy Grant of Ballindalloch in November 1689. Her husband, John Roy Grant, being a man of no prudence, and being of irregular habits, very unhappy differences arose between the, and he not only ruined his own estate, but also involved several of his friends and neighbours. He mortgaged his estate of Ballindalloch, and lost it by adjudication, when it was sold to Ludvoic Grant of Grant in 1710. They had one son, John Grant, who was educated in the Catholic religion. Having little or nothing of his paternal inheritance to depend on, John Grant determined to try his fortune abroad. He went to Holland and entered the Dutch service, in which he attained the rank of captain, as appears from the evidence of witnesses in the law proceedings between his son Peter Grant and the Counts Leslie. We find Colonel William Murray of the Dutch service stating in his evidence that he had known Captain John Grant since 1708, when Captain Grant first entered the Dutch service; that he was a very good officer, but his being a Roman Catholic prevented his promotion; that they served together in General Colzier’s regiment; and that he had received leters from Captain Grant within seven or eight years, informing him that his children had been baptized by Catholic priests.

"Edward Manhard, a merchant, stated in his evidence that he had known Captain John Grant since 1727, when he went over to Holland along with him as a volunteer; that he was in the Captain’s house when his son Peter Grant was born; and that he, as well as the captain’s other children, was baptized by a Romish priest; and that Captain Grant was a Roman Catholic, and converted his wife, who was the daughter of an Episcopal clergyman in Fife.

"Captain Robert Johnston stated in his evidence that he had served with Captain John Grant in Colzier’s regiment from 1739 to 1742; and that in the nomination for promotion returned by General Colzier to the States of Holland, Captain Grant was always returned as a Papist, which was the reason given for his being so often disappointed in preferment.

"Captain John Grant married, about 1740, the daughter of an Episcopal clergyman in Fife, and she afterwards became a Catholic. By her he had --

" I. PETER, who became the twentieth Baron of Balquhain.

" II. ELIZA, who, late in life, married Patrick Leslie Duguid of Auchinhove.

"Although Peter Grant was born of Catholic parents, and was baptized and educated as a Catholic, yet, on attaining the age of fifteen years, by the persuasion of a relation of his mother, David Ormer, a lawyer in Edinburgh, he renounced the Catholic faith, and then claimed the esate of Balquhain as the nearest Protestant heir of tailzie, and brought an action of reduction against all the nearer heirs, including his own father, Sir James Leslie of Pitcaple, and the Counts Leslie in Germany, as being either persons professing the popish religion, or aliens born out of the king’s allegiance, and consequently incapable of inheriting any land-estate in Scotland. As has been shown, after a litigation of six years, during which time the Court of Session pronounced several interlocutors, and several appeals were carried to the House of Lords, Peter Grant was declared nearest and true and lawful heir professing the Protestant religion to the estate of Balquhain, 5th February 1762, and was served heir to the deceased Ernest Leslie, eighteenth Baron of Balquhain, 11th March 1763, and obtained a precept of chancery for infeftment in the lands and barony of Balquhain, 25th April 1763. He then assumed the name and arms of Leslie.

"Peter Leslie Grant entered the Dutch service, and during the period of his service he used occasionally to come over to Scotland and reside at Fetternear. But having lived rather freely, he fell into delicate health, and was obliged to retire, when he took up his permanent abode at Fetternear. He was a most gentlemanlike man in his manners, and had a very amiable disposition. He used frequently to have to stay with him Patrick Leslie Duguid of Auchinhove, the next heir to the estate of Balquhain.

"Peter Leslie Grant was deeply in debt to his law-agent, David Orme, who had rendered him much assistance in obtaining possession of the estate of Balquhain, and had advanced sums of money at various times. In payment of this debt, Peter Leslie Grant in 1769 granted to David Orme a lease of the whole estate of Balquhain for five times nineteen years, for a yearly rent of £733 : 13 : 4, payable to him and the next heirs of entail, during the currency of the lease, in which were included the manor-house and domain of Fetternear. This lease was radically unjust and illegal, seeing that the whole estate was most strictly entailed, and could in no manner be disponed, and the manor-house and domain of Fetternear could in no case, by law, be let beyond the lifetime of the heir of entail in possession. This lease, which was registered 7th July 1774, proved of ruinous consequence to the family, as will be shown.

"Peter Leslie Grant was never married. He died at Fetternear in 1775, and was succeeded by Patrick Leslie Duguid of Auchinhove, son of Teresa Leslie, third daughter of Count Patrick Leslie, fifteenth Baron of Balquhain."