Gray, John Hamilton PEI

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: David E. Weale, “GRAY, JOHN HAMILTON, (1811-87),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gray_john_hamilton_1811_87_11E.html#citations
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Soldier and politician; b. 14 June 1811 at Charlottetown, P.E.I., son of Robert Gray and Mary Burns; m. first Susan Pennefather (d. 1866), and they had at least two children; m. secondly in 1869 Sarah Caroline Cambridge, and they had three children; d. 13 Aug. 1887 at Charlottetown.
    • John Hamilton Gray’s father emigrated from Glasgow to Virginia in 1771 and during the American revolution fought on the loyalist side. When the war ended he sought refuge in Shelburne, N.S., and in 1787 was invited by Lieutenant Governor Edmund Fanning to assume several important official functions on Prince Edward Island.
    • Identification with the land commission might have seriously impaired Gray’s political credibility, but by the time of the provincial election of January 1863 the religious controversy over education had become the dominant issue in Island politics and he succeeded in being re-elected. Gray had become government leader in the assembly in 1860 when Edward Palmer moved to the Legislative Council; after the election, he resigned from the Executive Council in mid February and precipitated a crisis which forced Palmer out of the Conservative leadership. Gray assumed the premiership by 2 March 1863.
    • The British government’s dismissal of the land commission’s recommendations propelled Gray towards the belief that, if united, the British North American colonies “would have more power and be in a better position to approach the British throne. . .” It is not surprising, therefore, that in the discussions regarding union of the Maritime colonies and confederation which came to the fore in the early 1860s, Gray was quite sympathetic to the notion of political amalgamation. In 1863 and 1864 he endorsed the Island’s participation in discussions of a Maritime union, though he seemed to prefer the idea of a broader federation. He argued that a form of British North American federation would present a strong united front to possible American expansionism in addition to improved relations with Britain. Gray was clearly committed to union, though not without reservations. Most Islanders, on the other hand, were quite evidently opposed to a union of any sort.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.
    • When the Charlottetown conference convened on 1 Sept. 1864, Gray, as premier of the host colony, was selected chairman. The conference was dominated by the persuasive delegates from Canada, and Gray, along with the rest of the Maritime delegates, appears to have been satisfied for the most part merely to listen to the arguments for a general British North American union. He needed little convincing.
    • At the Quebec conference the following month Gray continued his support. However, the Prince Edward Island delegation, especially Edward Palmer, expressing disapproval of almost every major resolution. Though Gray did not relinquish his support for confederation, he joined with his fellow delegates from the Island in arguing that the arrangements proposed regarding such matters as the composition of the Senate and representation in the House of Commons were inimical to the best interests of the Island.
    • The entire conference must have been an extremely difficult exercise for Gray because as a committed supporter of confederation he was anxious that the experiment not flounder, but as an Island politician he could not support measures which were clearly unacceptable to the Island populace. Nonetheless, he joined many of the “Fathers” on the banquet circuit following the Quebec conference. In Ottawa he stated his conviction that the new nation would soon take its place “among the first nations of the world,” and in Belleville predicted that the colonies would soon be united “in the bonds of brotherhood which shall never be severed.” It was the kind of talk that went over particularly well in Canada West, but its reception in his home province was quite another matter.
    • Today in Prince Edward Island, John Hamilton Gray is possibly better known than any of the other talented public figures of the lively and eventful 1850s and 1860s. Though he is most often remembered as a politician, it is clear that he was above all a soldier. His years in public office were but a brief interlude between his service in the British army and with the Island volunteers and the Canadian militia. Indeed, his chairmanship of the Charlottetown conference and role as a father of confederation were something of a happenstance, and it is interesting that his obituaries almost completely pass over this aspect of his life. They suggest that by the time of his death the Island public had practically forgotten his participation in the confederation movement. It would appear, therefore, that the recognition Gray has received for his role as a father of confederation has been the result of the increased Canadianization of the Island’s self-image in the decades since his death.
  • Son of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=12626
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8170110/john-hamilton-gray