[1][2] The son of William Gray, he attended primary school and St John's Training College, Battersea.

[1][2] 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.

[1] In the meantime, Gray had been elected to the London County Council as a member of the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party.

[2][4] Gray retired from the London County Council in 1925, and was knighted for "political and public services" in the same year.