Of this conspirator very little is known apart from the plot. His
residence was at Norbrook, a few miles south of Warwick,--a walled and
moated house, of which nothing remains save a few fragments of massive
stone walls, and the line of the moat may be distinctly traced, while
"an ancient hall, of large dimensions, is also apparent among the
partitions of a modern farmer's kitchen." Before May, 1602, he married
Dorothy Winter, the sister of two of the conspirators. He had been
active in the Essex insurrection, for which he was fined; and with his
brother-in-law, Robert Winter, he was sent for by Catesby, in January,
1605, for the purpose of being initiated into the conspiracy: but he was
not sworn until March 31. Greenway describes him as "a man of
accomplished manners, but of a melancholy and taciturn disposition;"
Gerard tells us that "he was as fierce as a lion, of a very undaunted
courage," which he was wont to exhibit "unto poursuivants and prowling
companions" when they came to ransack the house--by which dubious
expression is probably intended not burglars but officers of the law.
"He paid them so well for their labour, not with crowns of gold, but
with cracked crowns sometimes, and with dry blows instead of drink and
good cheer, that they durst not visit him any more, unless they brought
great store of help with them." Mr Grant appears to have anticipated
some tactics of modern times. All else that is known of him will be
found in the tale. His wife Dorothy seems to have been a lady of a
cheerful and loquacious character, to judge by the accounts of Sir E.
Walsh and Sir R. Verney, who thought she had no knowledge of the
conspiracy. (_Gunpowder Plot Book_, articles 75, 90.) It is, however,
possible that Mrs Dorothy was as clever as her brothers, and contrived
to "wind herself out of" suspicion better than she deserved.
John Grant had at least two brothers, Walter and Francis, the latter of
whom was apprenticed to a silk-man; the relationship of Ludovic Grant is
less certain. He had also two married sisters, Mrs Bosse, and Anne,
wife of his bailiff Robert Higgins. (_Gunpowder Plot Book_, articles
34, 44, 68, 90.) His mother, and (then unmarried) sister Mary were
living in 1603.