Sir Harold William Stannus Gray,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

(16 August 1867 – 23 May 1951) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

landowner, horse breeder and politician. He served a brief period as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

during which he pressed for more help for agriculture.

Family and education

Gray's father, Major George Gray, was a Deputy Lieutenant for

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

and he was born there at the family estate of Graymount."GRAY, Sir Harold William Stannus" in "Who Was Who", A & C Black. His father died in 1879 and Gray inherited the estate at that time, although he continued his education. In 1881 he entered

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

but left after only a year; he went up to Magdalene College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1885. After obtaining his degree he returned to Graymount to run the estate."Sir Harold Gray" (obituary), ''The Times'', 26 May 1951, p. 6. Gray married his cousin,"Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench 1923", p. 56. Rowena Stannus, the daughter of a County Antrim

Justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, in 1894.

Horse breeding

Both at his estate in County Antrim and at an estate on the Gog Magog Hills in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

which he bought in 1904, Gray became a very successful breeder of

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorses, running some of them on the English and Irish turf. He also played a part in society, being High Sheriff of County Antrim in 1895. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Gray and his wife went to France to help in hospitals treating wounded allied troops, and Gray drove a motor ambulance for the French

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. He also became a Justice of the Peace for County Antrim himself.

Election to Parliament

Gray's English land was in the

constituency. At the time of the 1922 general election, the MP was Edwin Montagu, who had been

Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...

in the

Coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

. Montagu's policy was unpopular with Conservatives and he had been sacked from his ministerial office in March 1922 after publishing a telegram from the Indian government which was critical of government policy.Michael Kinnear, "The Fall of Lloyd George", Macmillan, 1973, p. 109. Montagu stood for re-election as a Liberal without pledging himself to either

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

.Michael Kinnear, "The Fall of Lloyd George", Macmillan, 1973, p. 244. The Conservatives had been expecting to have to support Montagu as a Coalition candidate. At a late stage, the "die-hard" section within the Cambridgeshire Conservatives decided to stand a candidate against Montagu, who would have the backing of the party centrally"Mr. Montagu's Two Opponents", ''The Times'', 28 October 1922, p. 11. and Gray was chosen as their candidate at the end of October 1922."New Candidates", ''The Times'', 31 October 1922, p. 14.

Agricultural issues

In his election address Gray concentrated on farming policy, complaining that the Coalition government had promised farmers support, but had withdrawn it. He supported marking all foreign imported eggs. He also favoured building a large number of homes for affordable rents.T. W. Walding (editor), "Who's Who in the New Parliament", Philip Gee, 1922, p. 77-8. The campaign went poorly for the Liberals, who were reported by the last week of the campaign to be "despondent" about Montagu's chances."General Election Prospects", ''The Times'', 13 November 1922, p. 13. Gray won the election with a small majority over the Labour candidate, with Montagu in third place."Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench 1923", p. 166. As a Member of Parliament Gray concentrated on agricultural subjects, asking the Minister to introduce legislation to raise the wages of farm labourers."Parliament", ''The Times'', 6 March 1923, p. 6. In line with his election pledge he supported the Merchandise Marks Bill introduced by E. G. Pretyman which provided that all imported material must be marked with its country of origin."A Merchandise Marks Bill", ''The Times'', 17 March 1923, p. 6.

Later life

When a new election was called in November 1923, Gray was ill, and was forced to stand down from the candidature; he therefore left Parliament."The Cambridgeshire Contest", ''The Times'', 24 November 1923, p. 14. He renewed his involvement in public life when he recovered, becoming a County Councillor in Cambridgeshire and serving as

High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

in 1939–40."The New Sheriffs", ''The Times'', 10 March 1939, p. 4. He was awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for political and public service in Cambridgeshire" in the King's birthday honours list for 1938."The Birthday Honours", ''The Times'', 9 June 1938, p. 9. Gray's only son Terence became well known as the Taoist philosopher

Wei Wu Wei Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986), was a theatre producer who created the Cambridge Festival Theatre as an experimental theatre in Cambridge. He produced over 100 plays there between 1926 and 1933. Later in l ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Harold William Stannus 1867 births 1951 deaths 19th-century Anglo-Irish people 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge British racehorse owners and breeders Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1922–1923 High Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire