Charles Gray (Canadian politician)

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}

{{Infobox politician

| image = Charles Frederick Gray.png

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| honorific-prefix = Mayor

| name = Charles Frederick Gray

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| order = 27th Mayor of Winnipeg

| term_start = 1919

| term_end = 1920

| predecessor = Frederick Harvey Davidson

| successor = Edward Parnell

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1879|12|17}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1954|6|27|1879|12|17}}{{cite web|url=http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/images/getimage/genealogy/screensize/16db95a7-5c47-4911-a4e5-3097eed7fbd6 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-10-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503064725/http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/images/getimage/genealogy/screensize/16db95a7-5c47-4911-a4e5-3097eed7fbd6 |archivedate=3 May 2014 }}

| death_place = Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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}}

Charles Frederick Gray (17 December 1879 – 27 June 1954) was a Canadian politician, the 27th Mayor of Winnipeg in 1919 and 1920.{{Cite web|url = http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/gray_cf.shtml|title = Memorable Manitobans: Charles Frederick Gray (1879-1954)|last = Goldsborough|first = Gordon|website = mhs.mb.ca|publisher = Manitoba Historical Society|access-date = 2016-04-15}}{{cite web | url=http://www.winnipeg.ca/Services/CityLife/HistoryOfWinnipeg/MayorsPastPresent.stm | publisher=City of Winnipeg | accessdate=2009-01-12 | title=City Government: Mayors, Past and Present | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225130928/http://winnipeg.ca/Services/CityLife/HistoryOfWinnipeg/MayorsPastPresent.stm | archivedate=25 December 2008 }}

Gray was born in London, England and moved to Canada, eventually settling in Winnipeg. In 1917, he joined the city's Board of Control,

He successfully sought election as mayor the next year. His first year as mayor was marked by the Winnipeg General Strike in which he replaced much of the police force with special constables in an effort to control the protests, ending with a violent confrontation with striking workers on 21 June 1919, known as "Bloody Saturday".{{cite web | url=http://history.cbc.ca/history/?MIval=EpisContent.html&series_id=1&episode_id=12&chapter_id=3&page_id=2&lang=E | work=Canada: A People's History | accessdate=2009-09-12 | title=The Winnipeg General Strike | publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation }}

He was re-elected mayor in November 1919, getting more votes than his Labour opponent Seymour Farmer. presiding over a Citizen's Committee-dominated (anti-labour) city government. He did not run for re-election in 1920, the first city election held using Single Transferable Voting.

He moved to Ashland, British Columbia in 1941 and managed a salt mining operation there.