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Gray, John Hamilton


GRAY, John Hamilton, politician, judge (b 1814, St George, Bermuda; d 5 June 1889, Victoria). He was a New Brunswick delegate to both the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences that led to CONFEDERATION. As a reward, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald appointed him to the BC Supreme Court in 1873. Gray came west reluctantly but he served with distinction. As a member of the 1885 Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration he praised the industriousness of the CHINESE and pointed out their importance to the economic development of the province, though he did not go so far as to acknowledge their equality with white residents. He is the only "Father of Confederation" to be buried west of Ontario.