[1] He was the son of a Scottish Minister (Reverend John Ross Imray of Longside, Aberdeenshire[2]) and was born at Peterhead on 12 August 1820.
[3][4] After graduating as a Master of Arts from the Marischal College of Aberdeen, he moved to London.
[4] Among his early clients with whom he collaborated was the English philosopher-scientist Matthew Piers Watt Boulton (named after his grandfather, Matthew Boulton and his grandfather's business partner, James Watt).
Boulton and Imray jointly patented inventions related to "Propelling vessels".
[3] In 1900, at the age of 80, he became an elected councillor in the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn, representing the South East St. Andrews ward.