General Sir William Keir Grant, KCB, GCH (né Keir) (1771-1852) was granted arms in 1804.
Here firstly is his grant, in volume 2 of the Public Register 1804:
for clarity I have transcribed the entry:
Keir Grant Sir William of Blackburn Knight of the Imperial and Military Order of Maria Theresa in Germany the ensigns of which he is allowed to bear by Special Permission of His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland bears Quarterly first and fourth Gules a cinquefoil Argent between three antique crowns Or for Grant as being Heir of Entail for the deceased Grant of Blackburn; second Argent on a cross engrailed Sable cantoned with four roses Gules three lozenges Or for Keir; third Argent a saltier (sic) and chief with a mullet in the dexter chief point Or, all within a border (sic) indented of the Second to show descent of his mother who was Heiress of David Bruce of Wester Kinloch Esquire. In surtout a medal or charged with a profile of Francis II Emperor of Germany with the legend "Imp. Caesar Franciscus II., P. F. Aug." which knighthood of the Imperial and Military Order of Maria Theresa in Germany and medal were conferred on the said Sir William Keir Grant for his Gallant Conduct in bravely repulsing (along with several other officers and the Fifteenth regiment of Light Dragoons) the right wing of the French army by which means the Emperor was personally saved from being made prisoner by the French 24th April 1794. On the obverse of this Medal is this inscription "Forte Brittanno in exercitu foed ad Cameracum [Cambrai] XXIV April MDCCXCIV. Crest and Arm in armour embowed grasping a sword all proper. Motto Fortitudine.
At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it was not uncommon to place military medals on the arms themselves, as opposed to dangling beneath them but it seems rather a work of supererogation to include in the blazon a description of the invisible obverse of the medal.
According to wikipedia, Only nine of these medals were struck, one being given to each of the eight British officers present, and the ninth placed in the Imperial Museum, Vienna. The officers were also made knights of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, which, as in the case of other foreign orders of chivalry previous to 1814, carried the rank of a knight-bachelor in England and other countries. It also gave the recipient the rank of baron in Austria.
Not sure about the equivalent rank business ......
