(c.1708 - 73), e. s. of Sir James Gray; suc. fa.1722 as 2nd Bt.; Clare Camb. 1727; Dilettanti 1736; sec. 1744 - 6 and res. 1746 - 53 Venice; env.extra. 1753 - 9 and min.plen. 1759 - 64 Naples; amb. Madrid 1767 - 9; KB 1759.
1731 - 3 see Joseph Alston
1744 - 64 Venice (17 Oct. 1744 - Aug. 1752), Naples (18 Dec. 1753 - Oct. 1764)
As a young man Sir James Gray made an extensive tour of Italy and the western Mediterranean, see Joseph Alston.
Eleven years later, in 1744, Gray accompanied Lord Holderness on his embassy to Venice, where he arrived on 17 October 17441 (and visited Padua on 19 December).2 He remained at Venice until 1753, first as secretary (1744 - 6) and then as British resident. He attended in February 1745 the dinner given by Holderness for the Dilettanti Society, reporting afterwards to London, with Edward Clarke (another member), that he would 'have a peculiar attention to whatever may contribute to the prosperity and welfare of the Society'.3 But by 1752 Gray was complaining to Holderness that 'the solitude and subjection of this [diplomatic] post are become so heavy to me, that I am quite weary of it',4 and in 1753 he succeeded in being appointed envoy extraordinary at Naples. He had left Venice in August 1752, on leave, but did not return.
Gray arrived in Naples on 18 December 1753, having sailed from Genoa, via Leghorn, and he presented his credentials on 1 January 1754.5 His promotion caused a flurry in the Mann - Walpole correspondence, since Gray's father had been merely 'first a box-keeper, and then footman to James II'.6 But Gray was soon discussing the designs of the new palace at Caserta with the young King, Ferdinand IV; 'tho I seldom have a great share in [royal conversation] when Dogs or hunting are the subject', wrote Gray to Lord Holderness, 'as architecture & antiquities are equally favorite topics I have my part'.7 Gray told Holderness of discoveries at Portici, explaining that 'when any thing curious is discovered, The King usually shews it to us after his Dinner'.8 Gray took particular interest in the excavations at Herculaneum, and throughout his stay in Italy he remained active in the promotion of the Society of Dilettanti, proposing many young travellers as suitable candidates for admission.9 He commissioned two views of Paestum by Joli (which were engraved for Thomas Major's Paestum [1768]).(10) In 1759 Gray was appointed envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary and was made KB. In April 1763 he was sailing to Marseilles, presumably on leave.(11) His recall from Naples was dated 31 August 1764, but he was still there on 9 October and he had finally reached London by 22 January 1765.(12) Two illegitimate children, James and Catherine, were born in Naples before he left.
1. Horn, 1:85. 2. Brown 2003. 3. Dilettanti mss (letter of 12 Feb. 1745). 4. Eg.3464, f.252 (21 Oct. 1752). 5. SP 93/13 (Gray, 22 Dec. 1753; 1 Jan. 1754). Horn, 1:76. 6. Wal.Corr., 20:409. 7. Eg.3464 (29 Jan., 9 Apr. 1754). 8. Ibid. (29 Oct. 1754). 9. Cust, 12. 10. M. McCarthy in Paestum and the Doric Revival, exh. cat. New York [1986], 47 - 8. 11. SP 105/315. f.90 (Changuion, 12 Apr. 1763). 12. ASN e 679.
