William Hallett Ray

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = William Hallett Ray

| honorific-suffix =

| image =William Hallett Ray.jpg

| alt = William Hallett Ray

| constituency_MP = Annapolis

| parliament = Canadian

| majority =

| predecessor = Electoral district established

| successor = Avard Longley

| term_start = 1867

| term_end = 1878

| predecessor2 = Avard Longley

| successor2 = John B. Mills

| term_start2 = 1882

| term_end2 = 1887

| birth_date = May 25, 1825

| birth_place = Clementsport, Nova Scotia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1909|05|07|1825|05|25|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Clementsport, Nova Scotia, Canada

| nationality = Canadian

| spouse =

| party = Anti-Confederate (September 20, 1867-January 29, 1869), Liberal (January 30, 1869-)

| relations =

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = farmer, merchant

| profession =

| religion =

| signature =

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| website =

| footnotes =

}}

William Hallett Ray (May 25, 1825 – May 7, 1909) was a Canadian politician, farmer, and merchant.

Born in Clementsport, Annapolis Valley,{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=9309|nolist=yes}} where he worked as a farmer and a merchant, Ray was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Annapolis County in an 1864 by-election held after James William Johnston was named to the bench. He was first elected to represent the Annapolis electoral district in the House of Commons of Canada on September 20, 1867, and remained in office until his defeat in September 1878. Ray was re-elected for one more term in the June 1882 elections. He was a member of the Anti-Confederation Party until January 1869, when he left it for the Liberal Party. In 1887, Ray was named to the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia.[http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/mtq?doc=32962 The Canadian parliamentary companion, 1897, AJ Gemmill]

He married Henrietta Ditmars in 1848. Ray also served as lieutenant-colonel in the county militia.

He died in Clementsport at the age of 83.{{cite book |title=The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967 |last=Johnson |first=J.K. |year=1968 |publisher=Public Archives of Canada}}