The chiefs of Grant - Electric Scotland

454 sill JAMKS (II'.ANT OK GK.VNT, I'.AKuNJn'. [177."-
Wlien, iu 17'.'v), Franci' declareil ^v.ll• ;uj;aiiisL lii'itaiii, Sir Jiinics (Jrant's
patridtisiu led Iiiiu to Ix; one of the linst to uiaki^ oiler to the KLiiy of u
reghneui of feiicihles. His otl'ei' was at oiiee acee])ted, and, on Sir James
a.npcalin!j,' in liis tenants and dependants to malce l;-'mm1 jiis CiiL;"ageinents,
!/i readily was in^ respondrd ;
j, tlia; in httlc nioj'c iliau tl'.i'e montlis
after the decla'ation of wai. and Jl^s than two ai'vr tlie 'late of the
warrant- for rai.^iny the reglm-. ut, the Strathspey or txi-ant JV-nelbles, as
Ihoj were ealled, mustered at Forres in fnll stnai^tli. The regiment, as
authorised hy lloyal warrant, was ajipointed to eonsist of eight companies,
each composed of tlu'ee sergeants, three enrporals, two drunnncrs, and sixty
private men, with two pipers attaclied to tlie grenadier com]>any, and
the regiment liad also a sergeant-major and (piartei'inaster-sergeaiit, with
the usual eonnnissioued officers. The regiment thus nundiered ahout 500
men iu addition to the officers, and it was stipulated tliat it was not to be
sent out of Great Britain.''
Thougli tlie lirst luuster of the Grant Feiicihles took place in Apiil
1793, it was not until the 5th of June that the regiment Avas finally
inspected and emljodled by Lieutenant-Geiieral Leslie." The men were not
all natives of the llio'hlands, some being drafted from the Lowlands of
Scotland, while three were Englishmen, and two Iri.sli. In August 179.3,
thev "were marched to Atierdeen, and were successively quartered in most
of the pi'iiicijial towns in the south of Scotland, including Glasgow, Paisley,
Linlithgow, Dumfries, etc. The general appearance of the regiment has
been handed down to jmsterity in the collection of etchings made In- Jolui
Kay, the well-known miniature painter and caricaturist iu Edinburgh.^ In
liis work the regiment is depicted in full Highland costume, drawn uj) in
line, and receivinir the word of command from Sir James Grant himself,
who was their colonel. The etching represents the Grant Fencibles as a
finedooking body of men, and though their bearing is nowhere described
in military annals, their ajipearaiice seems to have favourably impressed the
inhabitants of the places where tliey were stationed. One local liard has
' Wai w.i-i ilocl.-ireil un Ist Ft-liiiiaiy ITri.'J. ' Stuu.ut's SkctcUcs of tlie lIii,'liLuKlers, vol. ii.
- I'riiiteil cujiius liiiv.il W.-inaiit, ilatcd lot March (i. 31'.'.
17!l.'i, at Castle Graut. ' Kay's I'nrtraita, vol. i. ] -77.