James Grant

James Grant (1822–1887) was born in Edinburgh, the son of an officer who had served with the 92nd Gordon Highlanders throughout the Peninsular War, and joined the army himself in 1839. He turned to writing after leaving the service and became one of the most prolific novelists of his generation, publishing some fifty-six novels in all — many of them, Under the Red Dragon among them, drawing on his own military background — alongside popular histories such as British Battles on Land and Sea and a six-volume Old and New Edinburgh. He died in London.