Family life and business

Gray was born in Luton

Luton

Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, the son of a Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 Minister, although he himself was a Methodist in religion. He was educated at Greenwich. In 1902 he married Elizabeth Eleanor Luck of Lewisham

Lewisham

Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

. They never had children. In business Gray was chairman of Frank Harden Ltd of Luton (manufacturers of ladies’ hats) and a director of the United Match Industries.

Politics

Gray first tried to enter Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 in 1911. At the 1918 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1918

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

 he contested Wellingborough

Wellingborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Wellingborough is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 as a Coalition Liberal, i.e. a supporter of the coalition government between those members of the Liberal Party led by David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

 and the Conservatives

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 but he lost in a straight fight to Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

. He stood as Liberal candidate at then December 1919 by-election

St Albans by-election, 1919

The St Albans by-election of 1919 was a parliamentary by-election held in England in December 1919 for the House of Commons constituency of St Albans in Hertfordshire....

 in St Albans

St Albans (UK Parliament constituency)

St Albans is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Established in 1885, it is a county constituency in Hertfordshire, and elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.From 1554 to 1852 there was a...

 but he came last, losing his deposit. He was unsuccessful at the 1923 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1923

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

 at Bedford

Bedford (UK Parliament constituency)

Bedford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was established in its current form in 1997, restoring a centuries old name. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...

 where he also stood again without success in 1924

United Kingdom general election, 1924

- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...

. However he was finally elected as a Liberal MP for Mid Bedfordshire

Mid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Bedfordshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

  at the 1929 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1929

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

. He was briefly Parliamentary Secretary

Parliamentary Secretary

A Parliamentary Secretary is a member of a Parliament in the Westminster system who assists a more senior minister with his or her duties.In the parliamentary systems of several Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, it is customary for the prime minister to...

 at the Ministry of Labour

Ministry of Labour

The Ministry of Labour was a British civil service department established by the New Ministries and Secretaries Act 1916. It was renamed the Employment Department in 1988, and finally abolished in 1995...

 in 1931 during the period the Liberal Party supported the National Government of Ramsay Macdonald

Ramsay MacDonald

James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....

. Gray had styled himself a Liberal National candidate for the 1931

United Kingdom general election, 1931

The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...

 although he was never a member of the Liberal National group

National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)

The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...

 led by Sir John Simon. Initial indications were that the Conservatives would stand aside for him in 1931 and Gray thought they should but his hopes were soon dashed however and he was opposed by a Unionist candidate, Alan Lennox-Boyd who also supported the National Government.

In 1934 Gray tried to persuade Lloyd George to take a more active part in leading the party again, inviting him to speak at the annual meeting of the National Liberal Federation (NLF) meeting in Bournemouth

Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...

 but LG refused saying the NLF had always made him feel like the prodigal son. Gray stood again in Mid Bedfordshire at the 1935 election

United Kingdom general election, 1935

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...

 but did not win it back.

He attempted to enter Parliament again at a by-election in West Derbyshire

West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.It...

 in 1938 but despite an energetic campaign and his personal qualities as a political speaker, he came bottom of the poll in a three cornered contest. Perhaps as a consolation for losing his Parliamentary seat, he was made a CBE

CBE

CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...

 in 1937.

Policy

Throughout his career Gray took a particular interest in foreign affairs, was strongly in favour of an effective League of Nations and was prominent in highlighting the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. In November 1938, he led a deputation from the Liberal Party organization to number 10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

 to deliver a resolution calling for government action and urging more generous offers of political asylum. Later that month he was also was one of a number of signatories – politicians, artists, writers etc. - to a letter to The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 objecting to the persecution of the Jews in Germany. On other policy matters Gray was rearded as an authority on empoyment issues, presumably one result of his experience at the Ministry of Labour and in 1933 he chaired a Liberal Party policy committee on unemployment insurance.

Death

Gray was chairman of the executive of the Liberal Party organization for six years and was a member of the Council of the Liberal Party at the time of his death. He died at his home in Wheathampstead

Wheathampstead

Wheathampstead is a village and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England. It is north of St Albans and in the Hitchin and Harpenden parliamentary constituency....

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

.

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