CLAN GRAY

Gray Clan Crest: An anchor

Gray Clan Motto: Anchor, Fast Anchor.

Gray Clan History

Fulbert de Gray was Great Chamberlain to Robert, Duke of Normandy, and owned lands in Picardy. There is a tradition that his daughter Arlotta was the mother of William the Conqueror and that the family arrived in England in 1066 with the Norman Conquest.

The name first appears in Scotland in 1248  and Henry Gray of Fife rendered homage to Edward I in 1296, but, like many other established families of the time, followed Robert the Bruce when the timing was right. It was Sir Andrew Gray who scaled the rock of Edinburgh Castle to recapture it from the English in 1312, and he was rewarded with lands at Longforgan in Perthshire.  In 1377, the lands of Fowlis also passed to the Gray family through marriage to a daughter of the powerful de Maule family, and in 1444, Sir Andrew's descendant, also Sir Andrew, and a loyal supporter of James I and II, was created 1st Lord Gray.

Thereafter the Grays remained close to the ruling House of Stewart. Patrick, son of the 2nd Lord Gray, was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James II. The 3rd Lord Gray  was Lord Justice General of Scotland in 1506. Patrick, 5th Lord Gray, was taken prisoner at the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542 and ransomed for £500 sterling, a princely sum at the time. Patrick, 7th Lord Gray, was caught up in the intrigues surrounding the fall of Mary Queen of Scots and although tried for treason, was released and exiled. Andrew, 8th Lord Gray, followed the Marquis of Montrose.  In 1639, he resigned his honours to obtain a new patent in favour of his daughter Ann who had married her kinsman William Gray, younger of Pittendrum. William was killed in a dual with the Earl of Southesk in 1660 and the title passed to the earls of Moray, but on the death of the 14th Earl of Moray passed to his niece who became Baroness Gray in her own right.

David Gray (1838-61), born in Kirkintilloch, was a prominent Scottish poet.

Places of Interest:
Huntly Castle, Longforgan, Perthshire was built in 1452 for Lord Gray of Foulis. Broughty Castle, Dundee, Perthshire. Five storey tower built by Lord Gray of Foulis in 1490. Owned by Historic Scotland.