DALEHAPPLE HOUSE The Royal Hotel, originally Dalehapple House, was built in 1865 by James Grant, one of Victorian Elgin's most prominent citizens. His initals are carved on the masonry gateposts at the entrance to the hotel James Grant was born in Inveravon, Banffshire, in 1820 he took part in the famous "Raid on Elgin", when 700 men of Clan Grant marched on the city to release their chief from the clutches of a local mob - the tartan waistcoat and jacket he wore on the Raid, the last clan rising in Scottish history, are on display today at the Glen Grant Distillery in Rothes. Grant later moved to Elgin, where he bacame a highly successful lawyer and bank agent. He served as the Provost of Elgin, 1848-63. Provost Grant was Chairman of the Morayshire Railway Company, Manager of The Morayshire Fire and Life Assurance Co. and connected with many other business enterprises in the North East. However he is best known as the founder, with his brother John, of the Glen Grant Distillery in Rothes. John and James Grant built their distillery in 1840, and it became one of the most famous on Speyside. Dalehapple House was built to the plans of a local architect, Alexander Reid. From 1865, it was home to James, his wife Julia, and the younger children of their large family. Their eldest son Charles went off to Queensland in 1862, but the second son, also James, inherited the distillery after the death of his father in 1872. James the younger received a commission in the Rothes Company of the 1st Battalion of the Elgin Rifle Volunteers and was commonly known as Major Grant. In 1885 the Major built his own mansion, Glen Grant House, next to the distillery, and created a magnificent garden covering 20 acres of land on the banks of the Glen Grant Burn. Dalehapple House passed out of family ownership in 1887, and in the 1900s was refurbished and opened as the Royal Hotel.