He lived in Dundee, in Perthshire, Scotland. His father, a minister
of St. Katrine's Church, had given him a thorough education,
as he believed that could never hurt anybody.

Harry's voyages were prosperous from the first, and a few years after
Robert was born, he found himself possessed of a considerable fortune.

It was then that he projected the grand scheme which made him popular
in Scotland. Like Glenarvan, and a few noble families in the Lowlands,
he had no heart for the union with England. In his eyes the interests
of his country were not identified with those of the Anglo-Saxons,
and to give scope for personal development, he resolved to found
an immense Scotch colony on one of the ocean continents.
Possibly he might have thought that some day they would achieve
their independence, as the United States did--an example doubtless
to be followed eventually by Australia and India. But whatever
might be his secret motives, such was his dream of colonization.
But, as is easily understood, the Government opposed his plans,
and put difficulties enough in his way to have killed an ordinary man.
But Harry would not be beaten. He appealed to the patriotism
of his countrymen, placed his fortune at the service of the cause,
built a ship, and manned it with a picked crew, and leaving his
children to the care of his old cousin set off to explore the great
islands of the Pacific. This was in 1861, and for twelve months,
or up to May, 1862, letters were regularly received from him, but no
tidings whatever had come since his departure from Callao, in June,
and the name of the BRITANNIA never appeared in the Shipping List.

Just at this juncture the old cousin died, and Harry Grant's
two children were left alone in the world.