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 John Chapman Grant and an African mother Ama Ejiriba of Fantiland, Grant was educated in the United States, where according to one story he was a schoolboy contemporary of Ulysses Grant,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. 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. 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, 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.
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