Dr. Grant is a clergyman married to Mrs. Grant. When Tom Bertram's debts become too much, Sir Thomas is forced to sell the next presentation of the Mansfield living to Dr. Grant, who takes possession of Mansfield Parsonage after Mr. Norris dies. He is a hearty man of forty-five, which disappoints Sir Thomas, as he wishes the new clergyman to die as soon as possible so his second son Edmund Bertram can be given the living and its income.[1] The Grants are friendly and sociable. Dr. Grant is very fond of eating, a fact that Mrs. Norris sniffs out,[1] and quarrels with his wife when the food is not up to his standards.
Three years after his arrival in the neighborhood, Dr. Grant and his wife host her half-siblings Henry and Mary Crawford. Their romantic entanglements with Sir Thomas's children and niece Fanny eventually make Mansfield an inhospitable home for the Grants; fortunately for them, by the time Henry elopes with Maria Bertram, they are already in Bath to treat Dr. Grant's gout and they choose to remain there until Dr. Grant unexpectedly succeeds to a stall in Westminster Abbey. He remains a canon until he dies of apoplexy, brought on by three great institutionary dinners in one week, freeing up the Mansfield living just when the married Edmund and Fanny are in need of a larger income and nearer home to Mansfield Park.