William Ray (c. 1884 – 6 or 7 June 1953) was an English-born academic in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

History

Ray was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, the youngest son of William Ray (c. 1844 – 10 June 1932), and emigrated with his parents to South Australia, settling in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

. Young William was educated at

Queen's School, North Adelaide Queen's College was a privately owned and run school for boys on Barton Terrace, North Adelaide. It ran continuously from 1891 to 1949, an Australian record for a proprietary boys' school. History In 1885 Rev. Thomas Field (later Canon Field) and ...

and St Peter's College, then studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, where he had a brilliant career, culminating in a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, which took him in 1907 to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, followed by pathology work at the Lister laboratory, for which research work ("concerning passive immunity in relation to infectious diseases") he was awarded the Philip Walker Studentship in pathology of £200 per year for three years. He returned to Adelaide in 1913, and was appointed to the Adelaide Hospital staff as an in-patient physician, which he filled for 20 years. He also served as lecturer in the University of Adelaide Faculty of Medicine and acting Dean in 1926 during Prof. Frederic Wood-Jones' absences, and when Wood-Jones resigned to take a position at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, was appointed to the post for the remainder of 1926–27. In January 1938 he was appointed Director-General of Medical Studies at the university. Ray was for many years a member of the University Council and the Council of St. Mark's College. He served as Police Surgeon from 1927 (or earlier) to 1936, and was recognised as one of Australia's pre-eminent authorities on medico-legal affairs. His successor was Dr. Arthur Walter Sydney James Welch.

Family

Ray married Mona Carleton Parker (1882 – 4 April 1953) in

Whittlesford Whittlesford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and also the name of an old hundred. The village is situated on the Granta branch of the River Cam, seven miles south of Cambridge. Whittlesford Parkway railway station serves the village. Li ...

, Cambridgeshire on 18 June 1910. They had a son and daughter: *John Ray, cricketer for Adelaide district, later a practising medical doctor in South Yarra, Melbourne *Jocelyn Ray also lived in Melbourne. Walter Vernon Ray S.M. (1880 – 7 March 1952) was a brother. He married Clarice Lilian Parker (born 1884) in 1910. Clarice and Mona were not sisters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, William 1880s births 1953 deaths British emigrants to Australia Australian Rhodes Scholars Academic staff of the University of Adelaide Australian pathologists Forensic pathologists