Margaret Macpherson Grant facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Margaret Macpherson Grant
Born	Margaret Gordon Macpherson (1834-04-27)27 April 1834 Garbity, Aberlour parish, Banffshire, Scotland
Died	14 April 1877(1877-04-14) (aged 42) Aberlour House, Moray, Scotland
Other names	Margaret Gordon Macpherson Grant
Years active	1854–1877
Known for	Financing St Margaret's Church, Aberlour and an orphanage
Family	Clan Grant

Margaret Macpherson Grant (born 27 April 1834, died 14 April 1877) was a Scottish heiress and a generous giver to charity. She was born in Aberlour parish. She was the only child left after her older brother died in India in 1852.

Just two years later, Margaret inherited a very large fortune. This money came from her uncle, Alexander Grant. He was a merchant and planter from Jamaica who had become very rich.

Margaret Macpherson Grant moved into Aberlour House. This grand house had been built for her uncle. She lived in a way that was quite unusual for women at that time. She dressed in a style that some called "manly". She also had a very close friendship with Charlotte Temple, whom she met in London in 1864. Margaret gave a lot of money to good causes, especially those connected to the Scottish Episcopal Church. She started an orphanage, which is now called the Aberlour Child Care Trust. She also helped build St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Aberlour.

Margaret wrote several wills during her life. These wills would have left her wealth to Charlotte Temple. However, Charlotte decided to leave Margaret to marry a man. Soon after, Margaret changed her will. She died five months later at the age of forty-two without a will. Her former friend, Charlotte, tried to get the money in court. But the court decided that most of Margaret's fortune should go to her cousins. It is likely that Margaret did not even know these cousins.

Margaret's Early Life and Family

Margaret Macpherson Grant's parents were Annie (who was a Grant) and Alexander Macpherson. They lived in Garbity, which is in Aberlour parish, Banffshire. Her father was a local doctor in Aberlour, Moray. Her mother came from the important Grant family. People thought her mother married someone from a lower social class.

Margaret's parents got married on 30 April 1825. Their first child, Alexander Grant Macpherson, was born in 1828. Margaret Macpherson Grant, whose first name was Margaret Gordon Macpherson, was born on 27 April 1834. When she was a teenager, Margaret went to school in Hampstead, in north London. She studied with Mary Ann Stodart, who wrote books and worked to improve education for women. Her brother traveled to India. He died there in 1852. This meant Margaret Macpherson Grant became her parents' only child still alive.

Margaret Macpherson Grant's uncle on her mother's side was Alexander Grant. He was originally from Drumfurrich Farm in Aberlour parish. He went to Jamaica and earned a lot of money as a planter and merchant. He owned enslaved people and was part of the Jamaican government. We don't know exactly when he came back to Britain. But it's thought he was in London by the 1820s. He visited Aberlour in 1829 for his father's burial.

When slavery was ended in 1833, Alexander Grant received money from the government. This was to make up for the loss of his enslaved people and other business items. He received over £24,000. He asked the architect William Robertson to build Aberlour House for him. It was finished in 1838. He also planned to buy the farm where he was born. Aberlour House became his official home. But it's not clear if he ever actually lived there. He was still working in London as a West Indies merchant.

Alexander Grant had business dealings in Jamaica with Alexander Donaldson and Alexander Thomson. These three men were often away from their estates. So, local lawyers in Kingston managed their affairs. Bookkeepers and overseers who lived on the plantations also helped. This setup caused problems when trying to pay off debts after Donaldson died in 1807 and Thomson in 1818. This led to many years of legal battles among the people who inherited their money.

Because the money coming in from the estates was not enough to cover the debts, Alexander Grant pushed for the plantations to be sold. The people in charge in Jamaica, John Meek and Joseph Green, did not want to sell them. They ignored orders from the High Court of Chancery. The lawsuits were not fully settled until 1861. By then, Alexander Grant had died. His estates had become Margaret Macpherson Grant's property.

Margaret's Adult Life

Inheriting a Fortune

Aberlour House, seen from the north

When Alexander Grant died in 1854, Margaret Macpherson Grant was twenty years old. She inherited most of his wealth. This included Aberlour House and his lands in Scotland and Jamaica. Everything was worth about £300,000. He also left her £20,500 that she would get right away. This was because she was over twenty years old. She also received £1,500 each year and some jewelry and personal items.

Among the Jamaican plantations she inherited were Brampton Bryan, Bryan Castle, Fairfield, Low Layton, Orange River, Orange Vale. She also had shares in the Nonsuch and Unity estates. Like all farms, the money they made changed with the economy. When Orange Vale was first set up in 1780, it mostly made money from coffee. After 1850, the main crop changed from coffee to raising and selling cattle. By 1856, the estate was selling pimento and lime. By the time Margaret inherited the plantation, it was not doing well financially. Selling cattle was its main way to make money.

Alexander Grant's will said he wanted Margaret to take the Grant name. So, her father asked the King to approve her adding Grant to her name. He also asked for her to use a mix of the Grant and Macpherson family symbols. This was approved in June 1854. She moved into Aberlour House. She immediately started making the building better and bigger. She hired A. & W. Reid, who were William Robertson's nephews. They had continued his work after he died in 1841. They added bay windows to some rooms. They made the service areas larger for a new ballroom. They also built a covered entrance for carriages. Margaret Macpherson Grant spent her time fishing for salmon and traveling. She let her agents manage her Jamaican estates. She also made a will. It said all her wealth would go to the Scottish Episcopal Church, which she supported.

Her Friendship with Charlotte Temple

While visiting London in 1864, Margaret Macpherson Grant became friends with Charlotte Temple. Charlotte was twenty-two years old. Her father was William Temple, a landowner. Later that year, Charlotte visited Margaret in Aberlour. She stayed until the spring of 1865. A few weeks after Charlotte left, Margaret went back to London. The two friends met again. Margaret also got to know Charlotte's friends.

Soon after, Margaret asked Charlotte's parents if their daughter could live with her permanently at Aberlour. In return, Margaret promised to make Charlotte the person who would inherit her estate. Charlotte's parents were not sure at first, but they finally agreed. Margaret went right away to her lawyers in London. She wrote a new will. It said her estate would not go to the Episcopal Church anymore. Instead, it would go to her own children (if she ever had any). If she died without children, her estate would go to an elderly aunt named Margaret Gordon. If her aunt had died, it would go to Charlotte Temple. She then joined Charlotte, who was waiting in a carriage outside the lawyer's office. Margaret gave her a pen and said, "Do you know what I have been doing? I have been making you my heir, and here is the pen I did it with; keep it!"

Margaret Macpherson Grant and Charlotte Temple returned to live in Aberlour House. They spent their time doing field sports and raising farm animals. Newspapers wrote stories about their hunting trips and their animals winning prizes at farm shows. Margaret Macpherson Grant supported many good causes, especially those involving the church. Their close friendship was described as being very much like a marriage. Margaret put a ring on Charlotte's left ring finger. Charlotte called herself 'wifie' in letters to Margaret. This way of life was unusual for the time. Newspapers also said Margaret Macpherson Grant was "strong-minded" and looked "very masculine in appearance and manly in dress". Because she was so wealthy and gave so much to charity, she was accepted by society.

After her father died in April 1871, and since her aunt Margaret Gordon had died in 1866, Margaret Macpherson Grant felt she needed to sort out her affairs. On 31 May 1872, she had her London lawyers prepare a new will. It left her estate to her own children (again, only if she had any). If she had no children, her estate was to go to Charlotte Temple and her heirs. Her Scottish lawyers warned her that they were not sure if this English document would meet the rules of Scots law. Margaret was worried that her will might be challenged. So, she told her lawyers to talk to each other and find a way to make sure there would be no questions about it. On 8 March 1873, another will was made. It left all her estate in trust. It said that Charlotte Temple would inherit it. Or, she would be paid £20,000 if any of Margaret's children were to challenge the will. Margaret also said that whoever inherited her money should take the name and symbols of Grant of Aberlour.

Helping Others

Margaret Macpherson Grant continued to give money to projects of the Episcopal Church. She provided the organ for Inverness Cathedral. This church was built between 1866 and 1869. In 1874, she convinced Canon Charles Jupp to come to Aberlour. She promised to build an orphanage with a church and school for him. The orphanage was started in 1875, with Jupp in charge. It first operated out of a small house until new buildings were ready. Alexander Ross was hired to design the orphanage and its chapel. This chapel later became known as St Margaret's Church. Work on these buildings began in 1875.

Charlotte's Marriage

At some point in 1875, Harry Farr Yeatman visited Aberlour. He was a retired commander from the Royal Navy. We don't know exactly when he arrived. But in August of that year, a London newspaper reported on his successful hunting trips on Margaret Macpherson Grant's land. The following December, he and Charlotte Temple became engaged. Margaret Macpherson Grant had mixed feelings about this engagement. Sometimes, she seemed happy and offered to host the wedding at Aberlour House. But she also showed sadness about Charlotte leaving her. On 11 December 1875, Margaret Macpherson Grant had to be rescued from a fire at Aberlour House. The cause of the fire was never found. She became confused sometimes. She believed she had rescued her servant from the fire. Other times, she thought she had hurt her head.

On 8 February 1876, Harry Yeatman and Charlotte Temple got married at St Peter's Church, Eaton Square, in London. Shortly before the wedding, Charlotte had written to Simon Keir. He was a partner of Margaret Macpherson Grant's agents. Charlotte asked that his sales reports no longer be sent directly to Margaret. Instead, they should go to Margaret's Edinburgh lawyer, Mr Falconer. Keir was not happy with this new arrangement. He also felt Charlotte was getting too involved in his business. So, he prepared a document to cancel Margaret Macpherson Grant's existing wills. In November 1876, he visited Aberlour. Margaret Macpherson Grant signed the document. This meant Charlotte, now Mrs. Yeatman, no longer had a claim to her estate. With Charlotte gone, Margaret Macpherson Grant was very sad. She died on 14 April 1877, after becoming partly paralyzed. Her death happened before the orphanage and church were finished. It was two weeks before her forty-third birthday. She was buried in the Aberlour church yard. She had built a special burial area there for her parents' graves.

Margaret's Legacy

Because she had signed the document to cancel her wills, but had not written a new one, Margaret Macpherson Grant died without a will. Her trustee, Mr Falconer, decided that the estate should go to cousins on her father's side of the family. These were James Proctor, from Tarland, Margaret Proctor, from Banchory, and Alex Proctor, from Rhynie.

A court case followed at the Second Division of the Court of Session. The Yeatmans' lawyer, Mr Fraser, argued that Margaret Macpherson Grant had been forced by Keir to sign the document. He said Keir knew she was unwell. He argued that the estate should go to Charlotte Yeatman, as Margaret had agreed before. He also said it was very unlikely Margaret Macpherson Grant would have wanted the money to go to the Proctors. She probably had never met them. Also, they were from her father's family. Her fortune had come from her mother's uncle, who had never thought highly of her father. After Mr Fraser spoke, the lawyers for both sides talked in private. After more than an hour, they returned to court. The Lord Advocate, who was in charge of the case, announced that they had agreed on terms. The estate would go to the Proctors. Charlotte Yeatman would receive £10,000. She was also allowed to have a gold watch and a diamond brooch that had belonged to Margaret Macpherson Grant. The value of these items would be taken out of the £10,000 payment. A report from 1882 about the court case said that ending it this way stopped the public from hearing "the full story of a curious, interesting, and educational tale."

What Happened Later

St Margaret's Church, started by Margaret Macpherson Grant

The Yeatmans moved to Dorset. They had a son, also named Harry Farr Yeatman. He was killed in 1917, at age 37, in the First World War. There is a memorial for him at St Barnabas Church in Sturminster Newton in Dorset.

William Grant (1809–1877), another member of the Grant family, paid for the orphanage and its chapel, St Margaret's Church, to be finished. He died in 1877. He left £8,000 to cover the cost of their completion. St Margaret's Church was finished by 23 November 1879. The church was made bigger and better in the years that followed. It has been named a very important historical building (a Category A listed building). It is still used as a church today. The orphanage grew to be the second largest children's home in Scotland. It continued to operate until 1967. The building has since been taken down. Only the clocktower remains in a memorial garden near the church. The charity that managed the orphanage still exists today as the Aberlour Child Care Trust.

The Proctors could not afford the costs of keeping the estate. So, they sold it to John Ritchie Findlay. He owned The Scotsman newspaper. Findlay bought more land in the area. He was seen as a kind landlord who worked to improve the lives of his tenant farmers. He died at the estate in 1898. Walkers Shortbread later fixed up Aberlour House to use as their main office.

Images for kids

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  A photograph of Margaret Macpherson Grant, wearing a white shirt and a necklace

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  Aberlour House, seen from the north

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  St Margaret's Church, started by Margaret Macpherson Grant