Читать книгу A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography - Various - Страница 78

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Gray, James, Manager of the Merchants Bank of Canada, Perth, Lanark county, Ontario, was born on the 3rd of September, 1820, at Black Hills, parish of Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland. Arthur Gray, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Morayshire, Scotland, and joined the active militia in 1809, and in 1811 was gazetted ensign in the 2nd battalion of the 24th Regiment of the line. In November of the same year he proceeded with his regiment to the Peninsula, where he joined the army under the command of the late Duke of Wellington, and served till the end of the war, during which he was present at the following battles and sieges: In the covering division at the siege and capture of Badejoz; the battle of Salamanca (where he carried the colours); the capture of the Retiro and the siege of Burgos, where he was engaged in the storming of the outer line, on which occasion the battalion suffered so severely that it became necessary to incorporate it in a provisional battalion with the 58th Regiment; on the raising of the siege of Burgos he was the last officer to quit the trenches, having been left with a piquet to see the works blown up at all hazards, and at the imminent risk of being taken prisoner, being fortunate enough, however, to regain his regiment after executing the orders he had received; he commanded a company during the rest of the retreat into Portugal, and suffered great hardships consequent upon such retreat. He was also engaged in the battle of Vittoria, and the actions in the Pyrenees for four successive days, including the attack on the heights of Echellar, where the battalion in which he was serving received on the grounds the thanks of Lord Dalhousie for their gallant conduct. He was also at the battles of Nevelle and Orthes, the investment of Bayonne, besides a great number of affairs of outposts and skirmishes, and was not absent from his battalion for one day during the whole period of these memorable events. On the return of the battalion he was removed to the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment, and proceeded to join it in the East Indies in February, 1815. He served with this corps in the Nepaul war, the campaigns of 1815 and 1816, including the battle of Harriagrove; and in the Mahratta campaigns of 1817 and 1818. During the Indian campaign he fell a victim to severe liver disease, and was compelled to return to England in 1819, and on the expiration of his leave in 1820, still being disabled from active duty from this cause, he was retired on half-pay. His health having been restored, in 1839 he was appointed to the first battalion Royal regiment, with which he served at Gibraltar to August, 1841, when Lord Hill removed him to the Royal Canadian rifle regiment. In 1847 he was appointed by His Grace the Duke of Wellington captain in the Ceylon rifle regiment, and proceeded to Ceylon. An insurrection breaking out there he was placed second in command, and shortly after the commander of a corps to scour the jungle and disperse the rebels. In consequence of exposure while on this mission he was attacked with dysentery, and being carried along with his column to Kandy he there died. James Gray received an English and classical education in the St. Andrew’s school of his native shire, and came to Canada in 1844, and settled in Montreal. The same year he entered the service of the Bank of Montreal, in that city. He was over a quarter of a century in the employ of this great monetary institution, and during this time resided in Kingston, Picton, and Perth. In 1868 he resigned his position in the Bank of Montreal, and was appointed manager of the branch of the Merchants Bank in Perth, which position he still occupies with credit to himself and satisfaction to his employers. Mr. Gray is connected with the Presbyterian church; but in politics he takes little interest. He is married to Mary Robinson, a daughter of the late Dr. Moore, of Picton, who, during his lifetime, was a staunch supporter of the late lamented Hon. George Brown, and in sympathy with the political reforms advocated by that great man.