Donald Clifford Gray (born 1930) is a British

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest,

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, and academic. From 1987 to 1998, he was

Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons The Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, also known as the Speaker's Chaplain, is a Church of England priest who officiates at services held at the Palace of Westminster and its associated chapel, St Mary Undercroft. The Chaplain ...

and Rector of

St Margaret's, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret the Virgin, Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Pal ...

Early life and education

Gray was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1930, the son of Henry Hackett Gray. His grandfather, Richard Hackett, was

Father of the Chapel A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

at the

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

and president of the

Typographical Association The Typographical Association (TA) was a trade union representing typographers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. History The National Typographical Association collapsed in 1848, and delegates from across Yorkshire and Lancashire met at Ange ...

. Having trained for the priesthood at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

and St Boniface Missionary College, Warminster. He was awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) by the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1984.

Career

Ordained ministry

Gray was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1956 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1957. He served as a priest in the Diocese of Manchester until becoming Rector of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

the incumbent of Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in 1974. He also worked as the Chaplain of Huyton College Chapel, a private all-girls school from the 1970s until the early 1980s when he was Canon Grey but was called by a different title to the girls who went there, all of whom respected and like him greatly. In 1987 he was appointed a canon of Westminster and Speaker's Chaplain. His role within the Westminster Chapter was that of Rector of St. Margaret's, Westminster.The Antiquaries journal, Volume 71. 1993 That role and that of Speaker's Chaplain have been practically, though not necessarily, combined for some years.

Military service

He was for several years an

Honorary Chaplain to the Queen An Honorary Chaplain to the King is a member of the clergy within the United Kingdom who, through long and distinguished service, is appointed to minister to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch of the United Kingdom. When the reigning mona ...

(a military form of chaplain to the Queen) through his involvement with the Territorial Army In 1970 he was awarded the TD (Territorial Decoration). He was later appointed to the Royal Household as a chaplain to the Queen.

Honours

In 1988, Gray was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

(FRHistS). On 22 February 2007, he was elected a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

(FSA).

Selected works

*Earth and Altar. Donald Gray, Alcuin / Canterbury Press (1986) *Chaplain to Mr Speaker. Donald Gray. HMSO (1991). *Ronald Jasper, His Life, His Work, and the ASB. Donald Gray. SPCK (1997). *Percy Dearmer : A Parson's Pilgrimage. Donald Gray. Canterbury Press (2000). *Memorial Services. Donald Gray. Alcuin / SPCK (2002). *All Majesty and Power : An Anthology of Royal Prayers. Donald Gray, Editor. Hodder & Stoughton (2000) *All Majesty and Power : An Anthology of Royal Prayers. Donald Gray, Editor. Eerdmans USA (2002) *The 1927-1928 Prayer Book Crisis Part 1. Donald Gray. SCM-Canterbury Press (2005) *The 1927-1928 Prayer Book Crisis Part 2. Donald Gray. SCM-Canterbury Press (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Donald Clifford 1930 births Living people Alumni of the Theological Department of King's College London Alumni of St Boniface Missionary College, Warminster Canons of Westminster Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Honorary chaplains to the King