James Hector Northey "Hamish" Gray, Baron Gray of Contin, PC, DL (28 June 1927 – 14 March 2006) was a Scottish Conservative politician and life peer.
The Lord Gray of Contin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of State for Scotland | |
| In office 13 June 1983 – 11 September 1986 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Mansfield |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Glenarthur |
| Minister of State for Energy | |
| In office 7 May 1979 – 13 June 1983 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Dickson Mabon |
| Succeeded by | Alick Buchanan-Smith |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 4 July 1983 – 14 March 2006 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament for Ross and Cromarty | |
| In office 18 June 1970 – 13 May 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Alasdair Mackenzie |
| Succeeded by | constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 June 1927 |
| Died | 14 March 2006 (aged 78) |
| Political party | Conservative |
Gray was born in Inverness and educated at the Inverness Royal Academy. His father owned an Inverness roofing firm. He was commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 1945 and served in India, during partition. He married Judith Waite Brydon in 1953 and they had two sons and a daughter.
He was elected as an Independent member of Inverness Council in 1965 and at the 1970 general election he was elected to Parliament as the Conservative and Unionist Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross and Cromarty. He was appointed to the Whips' Office in 1971, and he served as a front bench Energy spokesman (1975–1979). Upon the Conservatives' return to government in 1979, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Energy under David Howell, where he remained until the 1983 general election, when he was defeated in the new Ross, Cromarty and Skye constituency by the SDP candidate Charles Kennedy.
He was made a life peer in 1983, taking the title Baron Gray of Contin, of Contin, in the District of Ross and Cromarty,[1] and was Minister of State for Scotland from 1983 to 1986.
He served Inverness as Deputy lieutenant (1989),[2] Vice Lord Lieutenant (1994) and Lord Lieutenant (1996–2002).[3]
He died on 14 March 2006 at a hospice in Inverness after a long battle with cancer.
References
edit- ^ "No. 49410". The London Gazette. 8 July 1983. p. 9009.
- ^ "No. 51831". The London Gazette. 4 August 1989. p. 9056.
- ^ "No. 24087". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 November 1996. p. 2689.