Miscellaneous writer. Born in Dublin; studied law, served for a time in regiment of militia, then went to the Continent and turned to writing. British consul to the U.S. at Boston, 1839-1846. Contributed to New Monthly, Westminster Review, and other periodicals. Author of Highways and Byways, 1823 (and later series), and other volumes of tales; also of historical novels, histories, a tragedy, books dealing with the U.S.

Grattan was several times in Dickens's company when Dickens was in Boston on his visit to America in 1842; he was a speaker at the banquet held in February in Dickens's honour. In his Civilized America, Grattan referred briefly to Dickens's visit and to his American Notes. The two writers corresponded occasionally.

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1973.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography