George Gray, 2nd Baronet

Sir George Gray, 2nd Baronet

Sir George Gray, 2nd Baronet GCB PC ( May 11, 1799 - September 9, 1882 ) was a British lawyer and politician of the Whigs and most recently the Liberal Party , who was a member of the House of Commons between 1832 and 1874 with a brief interruption as well as twice Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster , three times Minister of the Interior and temporarily also Minister of Colonial Affairs .

Life

Family background and lawyer

Gray was the fourth of seven children and the eldest son of Navy Officer George Gray, who was named Baronet of Fallodon in the County of Northumberland for his services on July 29, 1814 , and his wife, Mary Whitbread. His grandfather Charles Gray was one of the most important British generals of the 18th century and was raised to hereditary nobility in 1806 as 1st Earl Gray . His uncle, the older brother was one of his father, Charles Gray, 2nd Earl Gray , the 1830-1834 British Prime Minister was, and after the "Earl Gray tea" is named, as well as his father's younger brother, Edward Gray , the Was Bishop of Hereford .

He graduated after school to study law at Oriel College of the University of Oxford , and took after its completion in 1826 working as a lawyer on. When his father died in 1828, he inherited his title of nobility as 2nd baronet.

Member of the House of Commons and Undersecretary of State

Gray began his political career when he was elected as a candidate for the Whigs on December 10, 1832, for the first time a member of the House of Commons and represented the constituency of Devonport until July 29, 1847 .

In the only 124 days incumbent government of Prime Minister William Lamb, he held his first government office between July 16 and November 17, 1834 as Undersecretary of State to the Minister for War and the Colonies ( Secretary of State for War and the Colonies ) , Thomas Spring Rice . He held this office as Undersecretary of State between April 18, 1835 and February 20, 1839 in the second government of the Viscount Melbourne under the then Minister for War and Colonies, Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg .

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of the Interior

After serving as Judge Advocate General head of military justice between 1839 and 1841 , he held the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for the first time in the government of Viscount Melbourne from June 23, 1841 to September 3, 1841 ) . When his uncle Charles Gray, 2nd Earl Gray died on July 17, 1845, he inherited the Fallodon estate .

On July 6, 1846, Gray was appointed Home Secretary by Prime Minister John Russell for the first time in his government and held this ministerial office until the end of Russell's tenure on February 23, 1852. At the same time he became a member of the Privy Council in 1846 . He was also re-elected to the House of Commons for the Whigs on July 29, 1847 and represented in this now until July 7, 1852 the constituency of North Northumberland . After a few months not a member of the House of Commons, he was re-elected as a Whig candidate on January 1, 1853, to the House of Commons, where he replaced the resigned Edward Howard until January 31, 1874, the constituency of Morpeth . In 1849 he was beaten to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).

Colonial Ministers and Ministers in the Palmerston Governments

Sir George Gray in later years

Gray took over in the coalition government of Prime Minister George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen the newly created post of Minister for the Colonies (Colonial Secretary) , after the former Office of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the Colonial Office ( Colonial Office ) and the Ministry of war ( war Office ) was divided. He held the post of Colonial Minister until June 8, 1855.

Then he was appointed on February 8, 1855 by Prime Minister Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston as Minister of the Interior in his first government and held this ministerial office until the end of his term on February 26, 1858.

After Palmerston with the Liberal Party, which had emerged from the Whigs, put back government on June 12, 1859 and took over the post of Prime Minister for the second time, Gray was initially reappointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and held this position until 25 July 1861. He was then reappointed Home Secretary by Palmerston as part of a cabinet reshuffle, replacing George Cornewall Lewis , while Edward Cardwell took over from him as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He also served in the government of John Russell, who assumed the post of Prime Minister for the second time after Palmerston's death on October 18, 1865, and served as Home Secretary until the end of Russell's term on June 26 1866.

From his marriage to Anna Sophie Ryder on August 14, 1827, his son George Henry Gray emerged, who however died before him on September 11, 1874. For this reason, after his death, his eldest grandson, who later became Secretary of State and Viscount Gray of Fallodon, Edward Gray inherited the title of 3rd Baronet.

Web links

• Sir George Gray at the Hansard (English)
• Entry GRAY of Fallodon, Northumberland in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Sir George Gray, 2nd Bt. On thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.

predecessor	title	successor
George Gray	Baronet, of Fallodon 1828-1882	Edward Gray
George Villiers	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1841	Granville Somerset
James Graham	Home Secretary 1846-1852	Spencer Horatio Walpole
Office newly created	Secretary of State for the Colonies 1854-1855	Sidney Herbert
Henry John Temple	Home Secretary 1855-1858	Spencer Horatio Walpole
James Graham	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1859-1861	Edward Cardwell
George Cornewall Lewis	Home Secretary 1861-1866	Spencer Horatio Walpole