Alexander Grant and his brothers formed a company in about 1860 for the manufacture of umbrellas. It operated from various sites in the City of London before moving to Leyton after World War II. By then it had become Grant, Barnett & Co Ltd. The Company is still trading in umbrellas under Alexander Grant's great grandson.
According to the 1881 Population Census Mr Grant, who was born 1n Scotland, was living at 2. Parkhurst Villas. Bexley, with his wife and baby son. He was then 40 years of age.
In 1885 he was a member of the committee set up to complete the building of St. John's Church, by the addition of a tower and spire. Several other men with connections with the cricket club were also on the committee: Robert Cooper and J. A. Potter (Presidents) and Walter Jesse (Hon. Sec.). The committee were successful in their work, as the spire still stands, despite being bent over by a land mine in the last War, an imposing landmark clearly visible from the cricket ground.
By 1891 he and his family were living in a house on Parkhill Road. Alexander Grant became a Churchwarden at St. John's in 1893. an office he held for 12 years. The family still has in its possession a solid silver tray, weighing 9lb, which was presented to him to mark his years of service. Mr Grant died just before the outbreak of the First World War.
The Grant family is connected by marriage to that of Mr T. H. Platt. Who became President in 1904: Margory the second daughter of the Grants married Sydney Platt the 1st XI Captain.
There are no reports of Alexander Grant having played cricket. (The survival or the family business. with its various changes of address, and name, was. traced through commercial directories in the Guildhall Library in the City of London.)