 After receiving medical instruction from his father, he entered as a student at the united hospitals of St. Thomas's and Guy's in October 1816.He was a dresser to Sir Astley Cooper, who advised him to open an anatomical school in Birmingham after he had become a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.When Charles Aston Key was appointed demonstrator of anatomy by Cooper, Grainger was anxious to be made joint demonstrator with him.