Horace Sydney Gray
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Horace Sydney was the son of James and Caroline Gray (née Middleton). James Gray was born in Derby in 1858 and Caroline Middleton in King's Newton, Derbyshire, in 1859. They were married in 1878 (reg. Derby) and had at least nine children three of whom died in infancy or childhood. All the children were born in Derby: John Joseph b. 1879, James Alfred b. 1880 d. 1880, Joseph Herbert b. 1881, Sarah Ann Middleton b. 1884, Catherine b. 1886, Ethel Mary b. 1887, James William birth registered 1889 (J/F/M) d. 1892, Wilfred Oswald birth registered 1894 (J/F/M) d. 1903 and Horace Sydney b. 4 September 1896. James, a wood turner, and Caroline were living at 2 Eley Street, Derby, at the time of the 1881 Census but the family was recorded on both the 1891 and 1901 Census at 7 Eley Street, Derby. However, the eldest son, John, was living with his widowed maternal grandmother, Sarah Middleton, in King's Newton in 1891 where he was employed as a 'bird tenter.' John was married by 1901 and he and his wife were living in Derby. Caroline Gray died at Derby in August 1904 at the age of 45. She and her husband were still living at 7 Eley Street. James Gray appears to have set up home in about 1907 with Charlotte Hayman (née Marshall). Charlotte had married Henry Albert Hayman in August 1891 at Walworth, Surrey, and they had had at least two sons, Henry Albert (b. London 1896) and Thomas Charles (b. Derby 1900), and possibly a daughter, Ann in 1898 (reg. Derby bap. Derby Christ Church June 1898) although no futher details of the child have yet been traced. Charlotte, a tailoress, and her sons were recorded on the 1901 Census living with her parents in Derby. Her husband, who was born in the London area, was living in lodgings Lambeth, London. In 1911 James and Charlotte were living at 26 Hawden Road, Sheffield, with James' youngest son, Horace Sydney (14), a joiner's apprentice tool maker, Charlotte's son Thomas Charles and their two daughters, Josephine (b. 1908 reg. Josephine Mabel Gray Hayman) and Dorothy (b. 1909 reg. Dorothy Gray Hayman). Four of James' five other children, John, Joseph, Catherine and Ethel, were now married but the eldest daughter, Sarah, was a nurse at Wadsley Lunatic Asylum, near Sheffield, although she too was married by the end of the year. James and Charlotte were married in 1912 (reg. Nottingham). The address in Horace Sydney Gray’s Naval records for his father was 234 Denman Street, Radford, Nottingham, but a newspaper report of Horace's death in 1915 gave his father's address as 15 Back Parker Street, Derby. However, James and Charlotte returned to Nottingham, and lived at 9, St. Peter's Street, Old Radford. James Gray died at Nottingham, aged 62, in May 1921. His wife Charlotte died aged 71 in August 1941 (reg. Basford).
Horace joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 21 January 1914 when he was 17 years old. He entered on a 12 year engagement on 11 September 1914, at the age of 18. Horace served in the following ships and shore establishments: HMS Vivid, 21 January 1914-5 June 1914 (Boy 2nd Class, 3 June 1914 Boy 1st Class); HMS Formidable, 6 June 1914-1 January 1915 (Ordinary Seaman 4 September 1914). Service record annotated ‘NP 32/15. DD [Discharged Dead] 1 January 1915. Lost in Formidable.’ His last ship was HMS Formidable, a pre-dreadnought battleship. The battleship was on exercises in the English Channel when it was struck by two torpedoes fired by a German submarine, U-24. It took about forty five minutes to sink and while some of the crew were rescued by nearby vessels 35 officers and 512 men of the complement of 780 crew members were lost. Horace Sydney Gray’s body was not recovered for burial and his name is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire.
Henry Albert Hayman, the eldest son of James Gray's second wife, Charlotte (formerly Hayman, née Marshall), served with the 2/6th Bn Sherwood Foresters (26927 Private) and was killed in action on 21 March 1918. He is also commemorated on the Radford St Peter memorial. (See record on this Roll of Honour) Derby Evening Telegraph, 8 August 1904: A Fatal Fit in Tenant-street. On Saturday evening James Gray of 7 Eley-street, Derby, and his wife Caroline Gray were doing some shopping in the town, when Mrs Gray died with startling suddeness … Police-constable Wain and the husband tried artificial means of respiration but as she gave no signs of recovery she was removed to the Derby Royal Infirmary in the ambulance van … The case has been reported to the Borough Coroner, and an inquest will be held.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Derby Evening Telegraph, 8 August 1904: ‘The Sudden Death in Tenant-street. The Borough Coroner (Mr John Close) held an inquest at the Town Hall this (Monday) Mornign on the body of Caroline Gray (47-sic), of 7, Eley-street, Derby, who died suddenly on Saturday night whilst in Tenant-street. It appears that the woman had been under the car of Dr. Kewley, of the Burton-road, for some time for heart disease but had been apparently better. On Saturday evening she was with her husband in Tenant-street, and he left her to go into the Shot Tower Seed Stores. On his return he found her lying dead on the pavement. Dr Iliffe, of Friar-gate, who was called, attributed the cause of death to heart failure, and the verdict was returned to that effect.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Nottingham Evening Post, 8 January 1915: The newspaper published an account of ‘the terrible experiences which befel the survivors of the Formidable’ after a Post reporter interviewed one of the survivors, Able Seaman John Mather, of Alderney Street, Lenton, ‘the only Nottingham man on board the ill-fated battleship and who was fortunate enough to escape with his life.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Derby Daily Telegraph 7 January 1915: ‘A Formidable Victim’s Letter. We have been asked to publish the following letter (delayed in transit), written by H Gray, one of the unfortunate men who went down on HMS Formidable on New Year’s Day. Gray was a Derby youth and up to the time of joining the Navy last February resided with his father, Mr James Gray, of 15, Back Parker Street. He was also interested in the Boy Scouts in this town. The letter given below is address to Miss Hall, and is an acknowledgement of parcels of Christmas cheer Gray had received. ‘I received the cake and cigarettes quite safe,’ he writes, ‘I found the cake quite nice, and it came as a surprise to me. Such food is a luxury to us out here for we only have food such as bread, cheese, butter, and jam. The cigarettes are also scarce and hard to obtain, for it is two months since I was ashore. It is fine to have a good smoke after one has just come off watch, perhaps in the middle of the night. It. Our work is very cold now, so we have been given warm clothing, and so we don’t feel the cold winds so much. Every sailor has now a collar which goes round his neck, so on being thrown overboard he blows through a pipe in this collar, and of course the collar, being a kind of bladder, becomes inflated, and so keeps a man afloat for several hours. Whilst looking over the deep blue sea for submarines often think of my happy school days and also of my teachers and the boys I used to play with. I hope you will be good to your teachers and pay full attention to your work, for your school days are your best days. With many thanks, From H Gray, a Jack Tar who wishes you a happy Christmas and many more to come.’ (www.britishnewspaperachive.co.uk) Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Deaths’, 11 August 1941: ‘Gray. August 9th, Charlotte, widow of James, Funeral Tuesday, from 219 Exchange-road, West Bridgford, Wilford Hill 2.45.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
