Herbert Branston Gray (21 April 1851 – 5 April 1929) was an English clergyman and schoolmaster. He was Headmaster and later Warden of

Bradfield College Bradfield College, formally St Andrew's College, Bradfield, is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 11–18, located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. It is note ...

and Chairman of the

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Uni ...

for the year 1900. Born at Putney, Gray was the younger son of Thomas Gray, of St Peter's, Kent, in the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in an ...

, a businessman in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, by his marriage to Emily Mary Heath at

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

in 1849. He was educated at Winchester at Chernocke House (Furleys) as exhibitioner (1865–70) and

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

. In 1877 he was ordained and became an assistant master at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

before being appointed as Headmaster at Louth Grammar School in 1878, then Bradfield College in 1880. In 1881 Gray established Bradfield's tradition of

Greek plays Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, when as headmaster he arranged for the first such play, ''

Alcestis Alcestis (; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, ') or Alceste, was a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her life story was told by pseudo-Apollodorus in his '' Bibliotheca'', and a version of her death and return from t ...

'', to be performed to raise money for the school at a time of financial hardship. Gray was inspired by the performance of ''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...

'' at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1880, directed by

F. R. Benson Sir Francis Robert Benson (4 November 1858 – 31 December 1939), known professionally as Frank Benson or F. R. Benson, was an English actor-manager. He founded his own company in 1883 and produced all but two of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare ...

. He successfully invited Benson to manage the Bradfield play, and Benson played

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

himself.G. S. Freeman, revised by M. C. Curthoys
Gray, Herbert Branston (1851–1929)
in

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

online, In 1882 Gray married Selina Marriott at

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. By 1898 Gray had the title at Bradfield of "Warden and Chairman of Council", meaning that he was in charge of the school's governance and not managing its teaching from day to day. In 1900, he was chairman of the Headmasters' Conference, and the annual conference was held at Bradfield. In 1903 Gray was a Member of the Moseley Educational Commission to the United States. In his ''The Public Schools and the Empire'' (1913), he recommended that scholarship funding and the competitive system needed to be reformed and that "the cult of sport" should be eliminated. At the time of his death Gray was Vicar of

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Governance ...

, Devon. He left a widow, Selina Gray, and an estate valued at £6,426."GRAY the reverend Herbert Branston" in Probate Index for 1929 online at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 1 April 2019

Selected publications

*Herbert Branston Gray, ''Modern Laodiceans, and other sermons'' (Rivingtons, 1883) *Herbert Branston Gray, ''Men of Like Passions: Being Characters of Some Bible Heroes and Other Sermons Preached to Bradfield Boys'' (Longmans, Green, & Company, 1894) *Herbert Branston Gray, "Report of the Reverend Herbert Branston Gray" in ''Reports of the Mosely Educational Commission to the United States of America'' (London: Co-operative Printing Society Limited, 1904) *Herbert Branston Gray, ''The Public Schools and the Empire'' (Michigan: University of Michigan, 1913) *Herbert Branston Gray DD, ''The Crossways: the Reform of Secondary Education'' (1913) *Herbert Branston Gray DD, ''America at School and at Work'' (London: Nisbet, 1918)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Herbert Branston 1851 births 1929 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Headmasters of Bradfield College People educated at Winchester College People from Broadstairs