Colonel Charles George Gray
A new book has arrived onto our history room shelves, ‘That Gallant Gentleman: The remarkable story of Colonel Charles George Gray” by Kenneth Dutton.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gray was born in Edinburgh in 1786 and had served in the Peninsula War in Spain and at Waterloo. After serving five years in India and suffering from ill-health, he bought his way out of the army and in 1837 left with his family to settle in New South Wales. After a series of different appointments, Colonel Gray accepted the appointment of Police Magistrate in Ipswich and he and his family settled here. At this time there was no town council and the sole authority seems to have been the Police Magistrate. As well as presiding in court, he dispersed government money, reported on floods, supervised road repairs, and generally ran the town.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gray died on September 7, 1873, aged 88 years. He was very popular with the people of Ipswich and his funeral was reported in the Queensland Times as being ‘the most numerously attended one which ever occurred in Ipswich’. The Ipswich Observer (September 10, 1873), wrote a long and glowing obituary, which showed how respected Colonel Gray was by the people of Ipswich.
“Colonel Gray had proved himself to be not only the Christian hero but the Christian gentleman. Accustomed to take a part in every movement that had for its object the alleviation of suffering or the good of his fellow man, he was ever noted for his unselfish devotedness and the chivalrous gentleness of his bearing to all.”
Information taken from “That Gallant Gentleman: The remarkable story of Colonel Charles George Gray” by Kenneth Dutton.