Ernest Gray

{{for-multi|the New Zealand politician|Ernest Gray (New Zealand politician)|the American politician|Ernest Alfonso Gray}}

{{Infobox MP

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Ernest Gray

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Ernest Gray.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Gray in 1895

| constituency_MP = West Ham North

| parliament =

| majority =

| term_start = 1895

| term_end = 1906

| predecessor = Archibald Grove

| successor = Charles Masterman

| constituency_MP1 = Accrington

| parliament1 =

| majority1 =

| term_start1 = 1918

| term_end1 = 1922

| predecessor1 = Harold Baker

| successor1 = Charles Buxton

| office2 = Member of London County Council
for Shoreditch (Haggerston)

| term_start2 = 2 March 1907

| term_end2 = 1910

| predecessor2 = Constituency established

| successor2 = Benjamin B Evans
Joseph Stanley Holmes

| alongside2 = Dr John Davies

| office3 = Member of London County Council
for Lambeth (Brixton)

| term_start3 = 5 March 1910

| term_end3 = 1925

| predecessor3 = William Haydon
Samuel John Gurney Hoare

| successor3 = Gervas Pierrepont
Nigel Colman

| alongside3 = William Haydon (1910-1919)
Charles Henry Gibbs (1919-1922)
Gervas Pierrepont (1922-1925)

| office4 = Vice chairman of the London County Council

| term_start4 = 1915

| term_end4 = 1916

| predecessor4 = Alfred Ordway Goodrich

| successor4 = William James Squires

| prior_term =

| pronunciation =

| birth_name = Ernest Gray

| birth_date = {{birth date|1856|8|27|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1932|5|6|1856|8|27|df=y}}

| death_place = Hampstead, London

| death_cause =

| resting_place =

| resting_place_coordinates =

| citizenship =

| nationality =

| party = Conservative

| otherparty =

| height =

| spouse = Florence Caroline Garside

| partner =

| relations =

| children =

| parents =

| mother =

| father = William Gray

| relatives =

| residence =

| education =

| alma_mater = St John's Training College

| occupation =

| profession =

| known_for =

| salary =

| cabinet =

| committees =

| portfolio =

| awards =

| blank1 =

| data1 =

| blank2 =

| data2 =

| blank3 =

| data3 =

| blank4 =

| data4 =

| blank5 =

| data5 =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| signature_size =

| website =

| nickname =

| allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom

| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
Volunteer Force
Territorial Force

| serviceyears =

| rank = Major

| unit = Essex Regiment

| commands =

| battles =

| mawards =

| military_blank1 =

| military_data1 =

| military_blank2 =

| military_data2 =

| military_blank3 =

| military_data3 =

| military_blank4 =

| military_data4 =

| military_blank5 =

| military_data5 =

| module =

| module2 =

| module3 =

| module4 =

| module5 =

| footnotes =

}}

Sir Ernest Gray (27 August 1856 – 6 May 1932) was a British educational reformer and Conservative politician.{{cite web |title=GRAY, Sir Ernest |work=Who Was Who |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U210355 |access-date=11 December 2010}}{{cite news |title=Obituary: Sir Ernest Gray |newspaper=The Times |date=7 May 1932 |page=14}}

Early life and educational work

The son of William Gray, he attended primary school and St John's Training College, Battersea. On completion of his training, he worked as an elementary school teacher and science lecturer. He married Florence Caroline Garside in 1883.{{cite book |title=Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench |year=1901 |publisher=Dean & Son |location=London |page=58 |url=https://archive.org/download/debrettshouseo1901londuoft/debrettshouseo1901londuoft_bw.pdf |access-date=12 May 2009 }} By 1894 he had become headmaster of St Gabriel's School, Pimlico. He was elected as president of the National Union of Teachers. He received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford in the same year. He later spent many years as secretary to the education committee of the union, and was joint editor of several education handbooks. He served as a member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education from 1900 to 1908. He was appointed an Officer de l’Instruction Publique by the French government for services to education.

Gray held a commission in the Volunteer Force and the successor Territorial Force of the British Army, rising to the rank of major in the 6th Battalion, Essex Regiment.

Politics

Politically, Gray was a Conservative, and in 1895 he was chosen by the party to contest the constituency of West Ham North. Gray had the full support of the National Union of Teachers, and was able to unseat the Liberal Member of Parliament, magazine publisher Archibald Grove. He retained the seat at the 1900 election, but was defeated in 1906. He made an unsuccessful attempt to regain the West Ham North seat in January 1910. At the next general election in December 1910 he contested the Lancashire seat of Accrington but failed to be elected.

In the meantime, Gray had been elected to the London County Council as a member of the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party. In 1907 the Municipal Reformers gained control of the council, and Gray was elected to represent Hoxton. At the next council elections in 1910 he became a councillor for Brixton, holding the seat until 1925. He was vice chairman of the council in 1915–1916.

He returned to parliament at the 1918 general election, having received the "coalition coupon", and was elected as Coalition Conservative member of parliament for Accrington. He was defeated at the next general election in 1922, when the seat was gained by the Labour Party.{{cite news |title=The General Election. First Returns. Polls in the Boroughs. Heavy Voting |newspaper=The Times |date=16 November 1922 |page=6}}