John Wray was a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

 and the first Receiver

Metropolitan Police Receiver

The Receiver, formally called The Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District , was until 2000 the chief financial officer of the Metropolitan Police in London, the Treasurer of the Metropolitan Police Fund...

 of the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 Metropolitan Police

Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

, its chief financial officer, to which office he was appointed on 7 July 1829.

Wray was born in Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 in 1804, and at the time of his death was the most senior member of the college. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

 in 1805 and called to the bar in 1823.

As Receiver, he had equal authority with the two Joint Commissioners

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, classing the holder as a chief police officer...

, Charles Rowan

Charles Rowan

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan KCB was an officer in the British Army, serving in the Peninsular War and Waterloo and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolitan Police....

 and Richard Mayne

Richard Mayne

Sir Richard Mayne KCB was a barrister and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police...

, and worked in harmony with them in establishing the new police force. His function in persuading parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

es to turn over funds to the Metropolitan Police was invaluable. He retired in April 1860, aged 78. He is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's parish church, Cottingham

Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire

Cottingham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies just to the north-west of the city of Kingston upon Hull...

.