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James GRAY (1790–1870)
His daughter Miss Maria GRAY (1836–1865)
St Giles section: Row 15, Grave B30

James Gray was born in Banffshire, Scotland in 1790.

Maria Williamson was born in Birmingham in c.1796.

On 14 April 1821 at St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, James Gray, described as being of St James’s, Clerkenwell, married Maria Williamson of the parish of St Botolph. They had the following children:

• William Gray (born in Islington on 13 January 1824 and baptised at St James’s Church, Clerkenwell on 17 March 1825)
• Anne Pratt Gray (born in Islington on 9 September 1828 and baptised at St James’s Church, Clerkenwell on 22 December)
• James Black Gray (born in Bishopsgate in 1833 and baptised at St Botolph’s Church there on 26 September)
• Maria Gray (born in London on 20 January 1836 and baptised at St Botolph’s Church, Bishopsgate on 5 April)
• Walter Gray (born in St Luke’s, Middlesex on 12 July 1838 and baptised at St Botolph’s Church, Bishopsgate on 13 November).

At the time of the 1841 census James Gray (described as a merchant) and his wife Maria were living at Gordon Street, St Pancras with three of their children: William (15), Maria (5), and Walter (2). Anne (12) and James (7) are hard to find.

Their eldest son William Gray junior was a Lieutenant-Colonel in Bombay by 1848.

Their eldest daughter and son were married in Bombay in the early 1850s:

• On 4 November 1850 at Ahmednuggur, Bombay, Anne Pratt Gray (22) married Charles Henry Cameron;
• On 10 April 1851 at Kurrachee, Bombay, William Gray junior (27) married Ophelia Matilda Mary Fraser.

At the time of the 1851 census James Gray (60) was working as an East India agent and living at 11 Regent Square, St Pancras with his wife Maria (54) and their sons James (17) and Walter (12), who were still at school. Their daughter Maria (15) was at boarding school in Clifton, Bristol.

Their second son James Black Gray was matriculated at the University of Oxford from St John’s College at the age of 18 on 28 June 1852, obtaining his B.A. in 1856.

In 1861 James Gray (70) was working as an average adjuster and living at 31 Addison Road, Kensington with just his wife Maria (64) and a servant. His son James Black Gray was paying a visit to his cousin, Julian Pratt, who was Curate of Harriestham in Kent.

The following year their son James Black Gray, now a Fellow of St John’s College, was appointed the first Vicar of Ss Philip & James’s Church in Oxford, and shortly afterwards James and Maria Gray moved to Oxford, probably to be near him. They lived at Rosebank on the Woodstock Road (also described as being in Walton Manor or St Giles’s Road West).

Their unmarried daughter Maria probably came to Oxford with them, as she died there in 1865:

† Miss Maria Gray died at the Woodstock Road, probably at Rosebank, at the age of 29 in December 1865 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 23 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her father James Gray died in 1870:

† James Gray died at Rosebank, Woodstock Road at the age of 79 on 9 January 1870 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 13 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read: “Jan. 9, at Rose Bank, Walton Manor, James Gray, Esq., aged 79.” His effects came to under £3,000, and his executors were his two elder sons, the Revd James Black Gray (Fellow of St John’s and Vicar of Ss Philip & James’s Church) and Lieutenant-Colonel William Gray (of H.M. Bombay Staff Corps).

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Widow of James Gray

Mrs Maria Gray was living with her unmarried son, the Revd James B. Gray (37) at the time of the 1871 census, presumably at the vicarage of Ss Philip & James’s Church. He was appointed Rector of Crick in Warwickshire later that year. In 1881 she was living in Kingston-on-Thames with her daughter Mrs Anne Pratt Cameron and her husband. She died there at the age of 87 and was buried in Kingston-on-Thames on 14 March 1884.

Surviving children of James Gray

• William Gray (born 1824) and his wife Ophelia had one daughter, Miniva Gray, born in Surbiton on 25 May 1855 and baptised there on 13 June. They presumably returned to India, and in 1861 Minna (as she was known) was at boarding school at Ash in Surrey. On 10 December 1868 Lieutenant-Colonel William Gray was appointed to the Bombay Staff Corps.
• Anne Pratt Gray, Mrs Charles Henry Cameron (born 1828) probably lived in India at the start of her marriage. By 1881 her husband had retired from the Indian Civil Service, and they were living at Collingbourne, Liverpool Road, Kingston, Surrey with three servants, and had taken in Anne’s mother. By 1891 they had moved to Torquay, to a house named Varese, and two of their nieces were living with them: William’s daughter Miniva (35) and James’s daughter Mary (17). Her husband died in 1892, and in 1901 Anne (72) was living at Varese with her niece Minna. She died at Varese on 5 December 1923.
• James Black Gray (born 1833) married Adelaide Joy Mallam, the daughter of Thomas Mallam, at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 18 April 1872, and served as Rector of Crick for the rest of his life. At the time of the 1881 census James (47) and Adelaide (31) were living at Crick Rectory with their first seven children: Mary (7), Miriam (6), Rupert (5), Marjory (4), Manuel (3), Dorothy (2), and baby Colin, plus five servants. By 1891 they had two more children: Hamish (9) and Gabriel (8). James Black Gray died at Crick at the age of 75 on 25 October 1908.
• Walter Gray (born 1838) is hard to find in the censuses after 1851, and it seems likely that he went abroad. He married Alice Ellen Harvey, the daughter of the late Mr William Thomas Harvey of King’s Cross Road, London, on 23 August 1887 at Holy Trinity Church, Kilburn, and an announcement was place in Jackson’s Oxford Journal.