Ernest Gray

{{short description|British politician}} {{for-multi|the New Zealand politician|Ernest Gray (New Zealand politician)|the American politician|Ernest Alfonso Gray}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Ernest Gray | honorific_suffix = | image = Ernest Gray.jpg | alt = | caption = Gray in 1895 | constituency_MP = West Ham North | parliament = | majority = | term_start = 1895 | term_end = 1906 | predecessor = Archibald Grove | successor = Charles Masterman | constituency_MP1 = Accrington | parliament1 = | majority1 = | term_start1 = 1918 | term_end1 = 1922 | predecessor1 = Harold Baker | successor1 = Charles Buxton | office2 = Member of London County Council for Shoreditch (Haggerston) | term_start2 = 2 March 1907 | term_end2 = 1910 | predecessor2 = ''Constituency established'' | successor2 = Benjamin B Evans Joseph Stanley Holmes | alongside2 = Dr John Davies | office3 = Member of London County Council for Lambeth (Brixton) | term_start3 = 5 March 1910 | term_end3 = 1925 | predecessor3 = William Haydon Samuel John Gurney Hoare | successor3 = Gervas Pierrepont Nigel Colman | alongside3 = William Haydon (1910-1919) Charles Henry Gibbs (1919-1922) Gervas Pierrepont (1922-1925) | office4 = Vice chairman of the London County Council | term_start4 = 1915 | term_end4 = 1916 | predecessor4 = Alfred Ordway Goodrich | successor4 = William James Squires | prior_term = | pronunciation = | birth_name = Ernest Gray | birth_date = {{birth date|1856|8|27|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1932|5|6|1856|8|27|df=y}} | death_place = Hampstead, London | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = Conservative | other_party =  | height =  | spouse = Florence Caroline Garside | partner =  | relations = | children = | parents =  | mother = | father = William Gray | relatives = | education = | alma_mater = St John's Training College | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards =  | blank1 = | data1 = | blank2 = | data2 = | blank3 = | data3 = | blank4 = | data4 = | blank5 = | data5 = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | website = | nickname =  | allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom | branch = {{army|United Kingdom}} Volunteer Force Territorial Force | service_years = | rank = Major | unit = Essex Regiment | commands = | battles = | mawards = | military_blank1 = | military_data1 = | military_blank2 = | military_data2 = | military_blank3 = | military_data3 = | military_blank4 = | military_data4 = | military_blank5 = | military_data5 =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | footnotes = }} '''Sir Ernest Gray''' (27 August 1856 – 6 May 1932) was a British educational reformer and Conservative politician.<ref name=whowho>{{cite web |title=GRAY, Sir Ernest |work=Who Was Who |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U210355 |access-date=11 December 2010}}</ref><ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Sir Ernest Gray |newspaper=The Times |date=7 May 1932 |page=14}}</ref>

==Early life and educational work== The son of William Gray, he attended primary school and St John's Training College, Battersea.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/> On completion of his training, he worked as an elementary school teacher and science lecturer. He married Florence Caroline Garside in 1883.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite book |title=Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench |year=1901 |publisher=Dean & Son |location=London |page=58 |url=https://archive.org/download/debrettshouseo1901londuoft/debrettshouseo1901londuoft_bw.pdf |access-date=12 May 2009 }}</ref> By 1894 he had become headmaster of St Gabriel's School, Pimlico. He was elected as president of the National Union of Teachers.<ref name=obit/> He received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford in the same year.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/> 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.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/> He was appointed an ''Officer de l’Instruction Publique'' by the French government for services to education.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/> 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.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/>

==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.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/> He retained the seat at the 1900 election, but was defeated in 1906.<ref name=whowho/><ref name=obit/> He made an unsuccessful attempt to regain the West Ham North seat in January 1910.<ref name=whowho/> At the next general election in December 1910 he contested the Lancashire seat of Accrington but failed to be elected.<ref name=whowho/>

In the meantime, Gray had been elected to the London County Council as a member of the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party.<ref name=whowho/> 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.<ref name=whowho/> He was vice chairman of the council in 1915–1916.<ref name=whowho/>

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.<ref name=obit/> He was defeated at the next general election in 1922, when the seat was gained by the Labour Party.<ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite news |title=The General Election. First Returns. Polls in the Boroughs. Heavy Voting |newspaper=The Times |date=16 November 1922 |page=6}}</ref>

==Later life== Gray retired from the London County Council in 1925, and was knighted for "political and public services" in the same year.<ref name=whowho/><ref> {{London Gazette |issue=33053 |date=2 June 1925 |page=3768 |supp=y}}</ref> He died in Hampstead, aged 73, in May 1932 and was cremated at Golders Green.<ref name=obit/>

==References== {{reflist}} * {{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}

==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-ernest-gray | Ernest Gray }}

{{S-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef | before = Archibald Grove}} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for West Ham North | years = 1895 – 1906 }} {{s-aft | after=Charles Masterman}} {{s-bef | before = Harold Baker}} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Accrington | years = 1918 – 1922 }} {{s-aft | after=Charles Buxton}} {{s-npo|union}} {{succession box|title=President of the National Union of Teachers|years=1894|before=Charles Bowden|after=T. B. Ellery}} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Ernest}} Category:1856 births Category:1932 deaths Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:National Union of Teachers-sponsored MPs Category:UK MPs 1895–1900 Category:UK MPs 1900–1906 Category:UK MPs 1918–1922 Category:Members of London County Council Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Municipal Reform Party politicians Category:Essex Regiment officers Category:Volunteer Force officers Category:Heads of schools in London Category:Trade unionists from London Category:Presidents of the National Union of Teachers Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire Category:19th-century British Army personnel Category:20th-century British Army personnel Category:Territorial Force officers