Gray, John Hamilton

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: C. M. Wallace, “GRAY, JOHN HAMILTON (1814-89),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gray_john_hamilton_1814_89_11E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, politician, and judge; b. in 1814 at St George, Bermuda; d. 5 June 1889 at Victoria, B.C.
    • John Hamilton Gray’s paternal grandfather, Joseph, was a loyalist from Boston who settled in Halifax; his father, William, was the naval commissary at Bermuda and later, from 1819 to 1845, the British consul at Norfolk, Va. John Hamilton received a classical education and acquired a ba from King’s College, Windsor, N.S., in 1833. After articling under William Blowers Bliss, he was admitted as an attorney in New Brunswick on 6 Feb. 1836 and as a barrister on 9 February of the following year. He settled in Saint John and recognition as a successful young advocate followed quickly, largely because of his spectacular courtroom oratory. In 1853 he was created a qc.
    • Lieutenant Governor Edmund Walker Head, finding his Executive Council inept and moribund, gave its “compact” government one last gasp of life by offering council positions to Wilmot and Gray. They accepted, and the Liberal opposition was robbed of much of its sting. Fenety later commented that a “terrible bomb-shell was thrown into the Liberal wigwam in St. John” by the Wilmot-Gray defection, and Gray’s conscience bothered him. In a public letter of 2 Aug. 1851 he claimed that he had accepted the offer of a council seat in order to obtain the construction of the European and North American Railway from Saint John to Shediac. Within two years the railway was approved. What Gray did not say was that, being a gentleman who honoured tradition, he could not possibly refuse to serve his governor when asked. Gray’s desertion of his colleagues, however, was to haunt him for the rest of his political career. More and more he came to be regarded as a weathercock with great plumage and little substance.
    • For the next two decades Gray remained deeply involved in New Brunswick politics. Soon after his entry into office, he became the leader of the Conservatives in the assembly, a role which suited his training and temperament.
    • Gray won the by-election and was subsequently chosen by Tilley as a New Brunswick delegate to the Charlottetown conference of 1864. As far as can be determined, Gray did not have much influence. He did insist on clearly defined powers for the provinces.
    • Gray realized in 1872 he had no political future and he was not a candidate in the elections held that year. He sought and was granted a puisne judgeship in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on 3 July 1872, an appointment resented in that province where George Anthony Walkem referred to Gray as an “empty-headed favourite.” Gray none the less served his term with great distinction, providing a balance and specialized skills that would otherwise have been lacking. As late as 1883, however, Attorney General John Roland Hett accused Gray in the Victoria Daily Standard of being in collusion with counsel during a hearing on an election which Hett had recently lost. Gray was vindicated in the courts.
    • The only Father of Confederation buried west of Ontario.
  • Grandson of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=3351
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6373/john-hamilton-gray