Scottish heiress and philanthropist.

Born in Aberlour parish to a local surgeon, she was educated in

Hampshire and inherited a large fortune from her uncle, Alexander Grant, a planter and merchant
who had become rich in Jamaica. Macpherson Grant took up residence in Aberlour House, which
had been built for her uncle by William Robertson. She lived unconventionally for a woman of her
time, entering into what was described as a form of marriage with a female companion, Charlotte
Temple, whom she met in London in 1864. Macpherson Grant donated generously to charitable
enterprises, establishing an orphanage (now the Aberlour Child Care Trust) and
founding St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Aberlour. She made several wills over the course of her
life that would have left her estate to Temple, but after Temple left her to marry a man, Macpherson
Grant revoked her will, and the bulk of her fortune went to cousins, who were probably unknown to
her. (Full article...)
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