 Educated at Edinburgh High School and Edinburgh University, he was a Member of Parliament (MP for Great Grimsby from 1812 to 1818, then for Tavistock from 1819 to 1826.After leaving Parliament, he became a judge in British India, serving as Puisne judge of Bombay from 1827 to 1830, and of Bengal from 1833 to 1848.His children included Sir John Peter Grant the M.P.