GRAY, George (c.1710-73).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

26 Jan. 1759 - Mar. 1760

Family and Education

b. c.1710, 2nd s. of Sir James Gray, 1st Bt., by Hester Dodd, and bro. of Sir James Gray, 2nd Bt., the diplomat. m. Charlotte, da. of Maj.-Gen. Robert Hunter, sis. of Thomas Orby Hunter, s.p. suc. bro. as 3rd Bt. 9 Jan. 1773.

Offices Held

Ensign 2 Ft. 1730; ensign 1 Ft. Gds. 1734; capt. 47 Ft. 1741; capt. 18 Ft. 1743, maj. 1745; lt.-col. 1st Troop Horse Gds. 1749; col. 1759; col. 61 Ft. 1759-1768; col. 37 Ft. 1768- d.; lt.-gen. 1770.

Biography

Gray held the seat at Winchelsea while his brother-in-law Thomas Orby Hunter was in Germany as commissary of supplies to the army with Prince Ferdinand. He wrote to Newcastle, 29 June 1759:1

You was pleased ... to think me worthy of sitting in the House of Commons, in place of Mr. Hunter ... I have that obligation to your Grace, and as I am sincerely attached to your person and Administration, could wish I might lie under an obligation to no one but yourself. My situation at present is very particular and critical. The eldest lieutenant-colonel in the army, in the list given in by Lord Ligonier to his Majesty, thirty years an officer, ten years in the post of lieutenant-colonel, paid £1,000 for my commissions, served in Minorca, in Flanders last year, and in Scotland during the rebellion: I hope such pretensions with the assistance of your Grace may procure me the rank of colonel ... Upon these considerations, and my connexions with my brother Mr. Hunter, in whose place I now stand, and whom I know has your Grace’s esteem, I hope for your protection.

His promotion followed on 19 July 1759, and he vacated his seat on Hunter’s return in 1760.

He died 14 Feb. 1773.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

  • 1. Add. 32892, f. 322.