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Sir
Ernest Gray
Sir Ernest Gray
	Gray in 1895
Member of Parliament; for West Ham North
	In office; 1895–1906
Preceded by	Archibald Grove
Succeeded by	Charles Masterman
Member of Parliament; for Accrington
	In office; 1918–1922
Preceded by	Harold Baker
Succeeded by	Charles Buxton
Member of London County Council ; for Shoreditch (Haggerston)
	In office; 2 March 1907 – 1910 Serving with Dr John Davies
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Benjamin B Evans; Joseph Stanley Holmes
Member of London County Council ; for Lambeth (Brixton)
	In office; 5 March 1910 – 1925 Serving with William Haydon (1910-1919); Charles Henry Gibbs (1919-1922); Gervas Pierrepont (1922-1925)
Preceded by	William Haydon; Samuel John Gurney Hoare
Succeeded by	Gervas Pierrepont; Nigel Colman
Vice chairman of the London County Council
	In office; 1915–1916
Preceded by	Alfred Ordway Goodrich
Succeeded by	William James Squires
Personal details
Born	Ernest Gray; 27 August 1856
Died	6 May 1932 (aged 75); Hampstead, London
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Florence Caroline Garside
Parent	William Gray (father);
Alma mater	St John's Training College
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army; Volunteer Force; Territorial Force
Rank	Major
Unit	Essex Regiment

Sir Ernest Gray (27 August 1856 – 6 May 1932) was a British educational reformer and Conservative politician.^[1]^[2]

Early life and educational work

The son of William Gray, he attended primary school and St John's Training College, Battersea.^[1]^[2] On completion of his training, he worked as an elementary school teacher and science lecturer. He married Florence Caroline Garside in 1883.^[1]^[2]^[3] By 1894 he had become headmaster of St Gabriel's School, Pimlico. He was elected as president of the National Union of Teachers.^[2] He received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford in the same year.^[1]^[2] He later spent many years as secretary to the education committee of the union, and was joint editor of several education handbooks. He served as a member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education from 1900 to 1908.^[1]^[2] He was appointed an Officer de l’Instruction Publique by the French government for services to education.^[1]^[2] Gray held a commission in the Volunteer Force and the successor Territorial Force of the British Army, rising to the rank of major in the 6th Battalion, Essex Regiment.^[1]^[2]

Politics

Politically, Gray was a Conservative, and in 1895 he was chosen by the party to contest the constituency of West Ham North. Gray had the full support of the National Union of Teachers, and was able to unseat the Liberal Member of Parliament, magazine publisher Archibald Grove.^[1]^[2] He retained the seat at the 1900 election, but was defeated in 1906.^[1]^[2] He made an unsuccessful attempt to regain the West Ham North seat in January 1910.^[1] At the next general election in December 1910 he contested the Lancashire seat of Accrington but failed to be elected.^[1]

In the meantime, Gray had been elected to the London County Council as a member of the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party.^[1] In 1907 the Municipal Reformers gained control of the council, and Gray was elected to represent Hoxton. At the next council elections in 1910 he became a councillor for Brixton, holding the seat until 1925.^[1] He was vice chairman of the council in 1915–1916.^[1]

He returned to parliament at the 1918 general election, having received the "coalition coupon", and was elected as Coalition Conservative member of parliament for Accrington.^[2] He was defeated at the next general election in 1922, when the seat was gained by the Labour Party.^[2]^[4]

Later life

Gray retired from the London County Council in 1925, and was knighted for "political and public services" in the same year.^[1]^[5] He died in Hampstead, aged 73, in May 1932 and was cremated at Golders Green.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o "GRAY, Sir Ernest". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "Obituary: Sir Ernest Gray". The Times. 7 May 1932. p. 14.
^ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench (PDF). London: Dean & Son. 1901. p. 58. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
^ "The General Election. First Returns. Polls in the Boroughs. Heavy Voting". The Times. 16 November 1922. p. 6.
^ "No. 33053". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1925. p. 3768.

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ernest Gray

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Archibald Grove	Member of Parliament for West Ham North 1895 – 1906	Succeeded by Charles Masterman
Preceded by Harold Baker	Member of Parliament for Accrington 1918 – 1922	Succeeded by Charles Buxton
Trade union offices
Preceded by Charles Bowden	President of the National Union of Teachers 1894	Succeeded by T. B. Ellery