William Grant, Lord Prestongrange

William Grant, Lord Prestongrange was a Scottish advocate, politician and judge who served as Lord Advocate from 1746 to 1754. As Lord Advocate he prosecuted James Stewart of the Glen after the Appin Murder and helped implement post-Jacobite legal and estate reforms.

Grant’s tenure as Lord Advocate placed him at the centre of government policy in Scotland after the 1745 Jacobite rising; his conduct of the Appin Murder prosecution later became one of the most controversial episodes associated with his office.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Catriona places William Grant, later Lord Prestongrange, directly inside David Balfour’s attempt to expose injustice in the Appin Murder prosecution. As Lord Advocate, Grant receives evidence that could undermine the case against James Stewart of the Glen, yet government and clan interests ensure that David is delayed, intimidated and finally removed to the Bass Rock while the trial proceeds. Prestongrange therefore embodies the respectable legal authority against which Stevenson tests David’s belief that truth alone should be enough to secure justice.