Clan Gray

History

Gray probably has a French root, though sources differ on exactly where. One Electric Scotland account points to the town of Gray in France, while another traces it to Croy, or Gray, in Picardy, granted to Fulbert, chamberlain to Robert, Duke of Normandy. The name may also have begun as a nickname for someone of sallow or grey complexion. A Gray surname alone is no proof of Scottish descent.

Most accounts trace the Scottish line to the Greys of Chillingham in Northumberland. Under William the Lion, it is said, a younger son of that house was given Broxmouth. Grays were settled in the Borders by the late 13th century, and in 1296 two of them gave their oath to Edward I. The family's fortunes turned on Robert the Bruce. In 1312 Bruce's men took Edinburgh Castle in a surprise climb. Sir Andrew Gray went up the rock behind the guide and was the second man onto the walls. His reward was the barony of Longforgan in the Carse of Gowrie.

A later Andrew Gray married Janet, a daughter of Sir Roger de Mortimer, and through her gained Fowlis, west of Dundee. The family became Lords Gray in the 15th century. Electric Scotland places the creation in or before 1437, though the numbering of the early lords varies between accounts. In 1452 Andrew, the second Lord Gray, had royal licence to build Castle Huntly at Longforgan. Tradition holds that he named it after a bride from the Huntly family. The parish history of Longforgan finds no record of that wedding, though, so nobody can be sure where the name came from.

The Lords Gray were close to power, and not always on the winning side. After Sauchieburn, the third lord is said to have been among the mounted men who killed James III. The Longforgan parish history repeats the story, though it is tradition rather than documented fact. He was made hereditary sheriff of Forfar in 1488. The fifth lord backed the Reformation, and Historic Environment Scotland records that in 1547, after Pinkie, his castle at Broughty was handed to the English without a shot. They held it until a Franco-Scottish force drove them out in 1550.

The best-known Gray is Patrick, Master of Gray, a favourite of James VI and his envoy to Elizabeth I in 1584. His part in the affairs around Mary, Queen of Scots in 1586 led to exile. He came back in 1589 but never regained his standing, and later succeeded as Lord Gray. Castle Huntly was sold in 1615. In the 17th century the eighth lord, a Catholic royalist, was fined under Cromwell, and the title passed through his daughter Anne.

The family later settled at Kinfauns, near Perth, which came to them by marriage in 1741. Francis, the fifteenth lord, built Kinfauns Castle in 1822. Other Gray families took root in Sutherland, at Skibo, and in Lanarkshire, at Carntyne. Today COSCA records the motto but lists no chief, and we treat the name as armigerous.