Sir James Gray "Knight of the Bath" 2nd. Bt.  - My G-G-G-G-Grandfather (Twice?)

This man has proven to be the most interesting of my ancestors.  My initial research after I obtained the first image of his portrait indicated that he never married and had no children, yet I now have the proof that he fathered two illegitimate children whilst Ambassador to the King of Naples and it appears I descend from both of them. Additional information about Sir_James_Gray,_2nd_Baronet and his connection to the "Art World", being a founding member of the Dilettanti Society can be found in Wikipedia, although they appear to have wrong information about the sex of  his children.

 

Date of Birth	Location of Birth & Baptism if known
1709
Date of Death	Location of Death & Burial if known
9 Jan 1773	Buried @ Kensington, England.

PARENTS

Father	Mother
Sir James Gray (1st Baronet)	Hester Dodd

SPOUSE & MARRIAGE DETAILS

Date of Marriage	Spouse	Location of Marriage
Never Married	Caterina Rosiglio	Supposedly never married but the two children are mentioned in Sir James Gray's Will and his mother's Will. In recent years an old document was forwarded to me which was written in "Old Italian" on 9th April 1763 and has now been translated into English confirming that Caterina is the mother of Sir James Gray's two children.   Click Here to view document.  Click Here to view translation in English.

CHILDREN & GRAND CHILDREN

Giacomo (James Gray)

Giacomo Gray (James (2nd Baronet)2, James (1st Baronet)1) was born 23-Jul-1759 in Naples, Italy, and died 09-Jul-1806 in       Cawnpore, India.  He married Frances Elisabeth Sutton Prince Abt. 1780 in ?, daughter of John Prince and Elizabeth Chidley.  She was born Abt. 1764 in ?, and died 20-Jan-1804 in India.   Children of Giacomo Gray and Frances Prince are:                          i.       Amelia Gray.                         ii.       Deceased Male Gray.                        iii.       Charlotte Elisabeth Gray, born Abt. 1783; died 08-Jan-1817 in At sea?.  She married (1) Arthur Hesilrige 27-Feb-1798 in Calcutta, India; born 1756 in Braintree, Mass. USA; died 28-Jul-1804 in Lucknow, India.  She married (2) Henry William Wilkinson 01-Aug-1805 in Lillah, Burdwan, Bengal, India; born 09-Aug-1779 in London, England.                        iv.       George Blanchard Penang Gray, born Abt. 1787.  He married Eliza Vence; died 06-Jul-1838.                         v.       Frances Burgh Gray, born 1791.  She married Clement William Whitley.                        vi.       James Clarke Charnock Gray, born 19-Aug-1794 in "Under the sound of Bow Bells", England; died 15-Mar-1891 in London, England.  He married Arabella Keziah Macarthur 23-Jul-1822; born 12-Oct-1800; died 25-Apr-1864.                      vii.        Alured William Gray, born 30-Sep-1796; died 29-Apr-1863.  He married Isabella Gibbs 01-Aug-1821.                     viii.       Caroline Birch Gray, born 09-Jun-1798 in Calcutta, East Indies; died 09-Jul-1879 in Lindenow, Gippsland, Vic, Australia.  She married John Davison Smith (her 1st cousin) 19-Apr-1824 in Calcutta, India; born Bef. 19-Jan-1787 in Worcester, England; died 27-Oct-1871 in Lindenow, Gippsland, Vic, Australia.                        ix.       Hester Popham Gray, born 02-Oct-1801; died 14-Jul-1805.

Caterina Carlotta Anna Maria Teresa (Catherine Charlotte Gray)

Caterina Carlotta Anna Maria Teresa Gray (James (2nd Baronet)2, James (1st Baronet)1) was born 14-Oct-1761 in Naples, Italy, and died 17-Aug-1838 in Britannia Square, Worcester, England.  She married Rev. Digby Smith 26-Aug-1783 in Belbroughton, Worcester, England, son of William Smith and Jane Cotes)?.  He was born 11-Aug-1752 in Doctors Commons, London, England, and died 14-Jan-1833 in Worcester, England.    Children of Caterina Gray and Digby Smith are:                        i.        Charlotte Jane Smith, born Bef. Jun-1784; died Deceased.  She married ? Mitchell.                       ii.        John Davison Smith, born Bef. 19-Jan-1787 in Worcester, England; died 27-Oct-1871 in Lindenow, Gippsland, Vic, Australia.  He married (1) Anne Stanley 01-Nov-1821 in St John the Baptist, Croydon, Surrey, England.  He married (2) Caroline Birch Gray (his 1st cousin) 19-Apr-1824 in Calcutta, India; born 09-Jun-1798 in Calcutta, East Indies; died 09-Jul-1879 in Lindenow, Gippsland, Vic, Australia.                      iii.        James Smith, born Bef. 02-May-1788; died Deceased.                      iv.         Charles Digby Smith, born 1795; died Deceased.

 

THE GRAY MYSTERY

I have found this an extremely frustrating, yet very interesting branch of my ancestors to trace and initially the only Gray ancestor I knew of was Caroline Birch Gray, wife of John Davison Smith.  My first thoughts were that Caroline must have descended from Thomas Gray as amongst my grandfather’s belongings (Horace Digby Smith) I came across a book of Thomas Gray’s poems printed in 1777 with the “Digby Smith” Coat of Arms on the inside cover.  This Coat of Arms exactly matched the one on the seal attached to the "Smith" gold chain (handed down from the eldest son to the eldest son for several generation) and I tried to research the poet without success as far as his descendants went.

It appeared from the start that this Gray family had a great deal of history together with mystery and that various members had tried to document it over the years.  Amongst the items in the old "J D Smith" box were old hand written Gray pedigrees dating back to 1445 but unfortunately no connection to Caroline Birch Gray who was the only Gray ancestor I knew about at the time.

The majority of Gray documents showed information about various Grays, making it obvious that somebody in the family in previous generations took a considerable interest in the Gray line in particular.  Caroline (John Davison Smith’s wife) obviously had an interest in family history too as there was an undated letter (Probably 1860's) to her in Australia from her nephew H. D. Mitchell with an address of Britannia Square, Worcester, describing Coats of Arms.

 

Then after obtaining two images of Sir James Gray (Knight of the Bath) about 10 years ago from family members here in Australia and also knowing that John Davison Smith’s wife was Caroline Birch Gray, I felt there could be a connection between Sir James and Caroline.  I was totally bewildered initially researching Sir James Gray, only to find out that he never married and that both he and his brother died in 1773, leaving no heirs and that was supposedly the end of that Gray line.

Portrait on Small Brooch (Approx. 1730-40)

It would appear that a Gray descendant had the following written on the back of the large portrait (Possibly before it left England for Australia): “Sr. James Gray Baronet, Knt of the Bath, Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary, to the King of Naples.  Painted in Italy by Minx.  Anon 1761.”

Portrait of Sir James Gray "Knight of the Bath" Painted  - 1761

Both portraits were featured in the “Summer 2007” edition of The British Art Journal in an article “Portraits of Sir James Gray” (Vol V111 No1 pages 15-19).

The small enamel portrait was probably done around the time of his early involvement with the Dilettanti Society and the larger portrait was painted around the time Anton Raphael Mengs was in Italy.  During his Diplomatic Career "Sir James Gray" was Ambassador to the King of Naples and declared "Knight of the Bath" on 23rd Mar 1761.  He was then appointed to a similar position in Madrid where again Mengs appears around the same period of time.

Considering the oil painting is 250 years old this year it is still in quite good condition.  No doubt it would have come to Australia on a sailing ship (Probably in the 1850's).  After the voyage to Port Albert I imagine it could have made the trip to Lindenow Station on a bullock dray via the scrubby bush coastal track which was the common route in those days.  The Smith's were one of the first families to settle in Gippsland where the portrait probably spent around 50 years.

The Smith family came to Australia from Norwood, Surrey, England and I have my suspicions that it could have been from "Grangewood Park" but need to do more research and hopefully visit Norwood in the next few years to prove this.  The old family Bible shows that some of the children were baptised at "Norwood in Surrey" by a Rev. Charles Turner during that period of time a John Davidson Smith was the owner of "Grangewood Park".  I have also read that Queen Victoria attended a garden party on that property whilst Smith was the owner and that fits in with stories handed down the Smith line here in Australia. 

As a child, my grandfather (Horace Digby Smith) once told me that if I looked far enough back in my family tree I would find "Italian Blue Blood" and I now wonder what he really knew and wanted to tell me when I wasn't interested in such things.  Once I found out that Sir James Gray was Ambassador to the King of Naples, I then thought there was a slight chance he fathered children to a member of that Royal Family.  The other possibility was that the so called "Blue Blood" was a connection to Napoleon's family as my G-G-Grandfather (John Davison Smith) was thought to have visited Napoleon whilst he was in exile on St Helena which was written about in his obituary.  Old East India Shipping Co records show that John Davison Smith visited St Helena during that period and other old documents indicate that he spoke fluent French.  From what I have read, Napoleon's mother was living in Naples at the time of his death and back then I felt I would have liked to have known more about her family too.

 

Slowly but surely the mystery as to why the portrait of Sir James Gray together with numerous old papers and documents on the Gray family have been handed down through the Smith family here in Australia are giving up their secrets which appear to have been covered up for a few generations.  Now other Gray descendants overseas are also providing valuable information as the family tree keeps growing around the World.  Unfortunately the only mention of a Royal connection we have come across is "Prince" (That was the Surname of Capt. James Gray's wife).

Back then I couldn’t understand why if we were not directly related to Sir James Gray, why these portraits had been handed down through the family for so many generations but Sir James Gray really sounded like an important person.  Then I came across a comment on an old piece of paper with the two examples of the Smith wax seals that "General Gray descends from Sir James Gray".

After spending many hours searching the Internet for possible clues I couldn’t believe my eyes when a site revealed two illegitimate children to Sir James Gray, born in Naples, Italy.  The children’s names happen to be listed as James and Catherine but the woman who put the information on the Internet had passed away only days before as found out from her son when I tried to make contact with her in England. She had found the two children mentioned in Gray's Will and also his mother's Will.   That researcher happened to be desperate for a bone marrow match and unfortunately didn’t find one in time.  Now I know there would have been a good chance some of the descendants of Caroline Birch Gray & John Davison Smith could have been the match she so desperately needed which will soon be revealed.

This sure put a new light on the subject, so I headed off in search of a James or Catherine but didn’t expect to find these two children really using the surname Gray if they were illegitimate.  The identity of the mother of the two children was then to remain a mystery to me for around another 5 years but older members of the Smith family in Australia still living also felt she must have been a member of the Royal Family from stories they had also heard which were handed down through the generations.

 

The next little surprise came when I was searching the Internet again and came across information regarding a diary kept by William Dunn, schoolmaster of Belbroughton, Worcester, England between 1767-95.  There was an entry which read: “August 26^th 1783 - Tuesday - Showery - The Reverend Digby Smith married to Miss Gray at Dn Green”.  There seemed to be a daily description of the weather and other notes of what happened for the day such as: “August 10^th 1783 – Sunday – Fine – Humphrey Gossage buried – My little Welch cow took the bull again”.

After several e-mails to the Church of England at Worcester it was revealed that Mrs. Rev Digby Smith happened to be a Catherine Gray and about the right age to be the illegitimate daughter of Sir James Gray.  This immediately had me thinking that John Davison Smith was really the descendant of Sir James Gray and that his wife Caroline Birch Gray probably belonged to another Gray family.

In the mean time I applied for a copy of Rev Digby Smith's Will.  This came up with another interesting surprise.  This was immediate proof that Mrs. Rev Digby Smith had to be the illegitimate daughter of Sir James Gray unless somebody can come up with another reason for both the above portraits to be in his possession.  The Will reads "I also give and bequeath unto my said son John Davison his executors administrators and assigns the portrait of Sir James Gray Baronet Knight of the Bath An enamel miniature of the same portrait A small portrait of myself and a Chinese painting all which are now in my possession".  Although John Davison Smith was married to Caroline Birch Gray at that time and living in India, it is far more likely from the wording that the portraits actually belonged to Rev. Digby Smith's wife.  Back in those days I'm told all assets appear to have been declared as part of the husbands in Wills.

 

Then amongst some of the old documents held by other Smith/Gray descendants in Australia, I came across a hand written copy of the obituary for a General James Clarke Charnock Gray and it states that he happened to be the grandson of the Right Hon. Sir James Gray, ambassador at the Courts of Naples and Madrid.  This sure sounded like the Sir James Gray “Knight of the Bath” the portraits are of and so much other information which had been handed down through the family here in Australia.

The death is announced of General James Clarke Charnock Gray who entered the service of the Hon. East India Company as a cadet of infantry Bengal Presidency in the year 1811.  He first saw active service in the Napaul war 1814-15 under Sir David Achterlong?, ?ast at Gureah? Kotah? in1819, under Colonel W. Brookes, and in 1825-26 at the siege of Bhurtpore?, under Lord Combermere?, when the brigadier commanding the storming column issued a complimentary order testifying to the gallant conduct of his regiment in ascending the breach?.  This regiment was the late 21^st Bengal Native Infantry, now the 1^st Native Infantry, one of the few regiments of the Bengal Presidency which remained loyal in the great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.  On the formation? in 1837? of the Oade? Auyiary? Force?, the deceased then only a Captain was appointed by Lord Auchland? to ?aide, organise and command the 1^st Regiment of that force, and he held the command for ten years until promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1847.

In the period from 1847 to 1855 General Gray commanded the 34^th & 35^th Native Infantry and was selected to ?ai?e, organise and command the 3^rd? European Regiment now the 107^th or Royal Sussex Regiment.  In January? 1856, Lord Dalhoutie?,  then Governor General in India, in a letter conched? in complementary and appreciative terms, communicated to the deceated? the new policy? about to be adopted in relation to the kingdom of Onde?, including the organisation of an irregular force, consisting of three field batteries, three regiments of cavalry and eight regiments of infantry.  “My first care for this force”, wrote his Lordship, “Must be to place it under the command of an officer with the ability, energy, and experience, in whose knowledge, discretion and soldierly qualities the Government may place full reliance.  I feel confident that, acting in that view?, I cannot do better than select you for this command.  It? will be agreeable to you to know that your acceptance of this offer will be very satisfactory to General Autham? as well as to myself.”  But before this force could be thoroughly organised and disciplined unmistakable indications of the Great Sepoy Mutiny had become widespread, and that the force in due course disestablished? itself after a very brief existence, and General Gray and such officers of his force as escaped the first hostile intentions of their men found themselves interred? in the residency? at Lucknow in the successful defence of which they participated from first to last until relieved by Havelock? & Outram? in September and by Lord Clyde in November 1857 and March 1858. 

Born under the sound of Bow Bells on the 19^th August 1794 the third son of the late Captain James Gray of the Royal Navy and a grandson of the Right Hon. Sir James Gray, K.C.B.P.? Ambassador at the Courts of Naples and Madrid, the deceased General, the father of the Indian Army commenced his Indian career in 1812 and remained in India uninterrupted for 54 years, 46 of which were passed? in the plains?, but with a very short term, but once only in the hills.  He went out as a boy of 17, and returned to England at the ripe old age of 71 establishing his home in London in 1866.  As a boy he witnessed the funeral of Lord Nelson in 1806, and the jubilee of George 111 in 1810 and that of the queen in 1887 at the age of 93.  He remained in full possession of all his mental faculties to the very last.           

I also kept thinking that this bloke might turn out to be the brother of Caroline Birch Gray and the one James Digby Smith (Son of John Davison Smith & Caroline Birch Gray) kept referring to as “Uncle” in his letters from India written in the 1840's &1850's before his death in the Mutiny in 1857.  There appeared to be numerous Grays in the English Army in India but I couldn't find an appropriate Smith to be James's uncle.  From a comment about "Uncle" taking up command of a particular Regiment it was obvious that it was James Clarke Charnock Gray he was making reference to.  "Uncle" then had to be Caroline Birch Gray's brother which came as another little surprise.

By this stage of my research I was spending quite a bit of time on the Internet researching and I found the site for the British Library and they provided me with the following information on Sir James Gray and also confirmed my "Uncle" theory:-

GRAY, Sir James (d. 1773), diplomatist and antiquary, was elder son of Sir James Gray, who was created baronet (of Scotland) by queen Anne in 1707, and of Hester Dodd, his wife.  Horace Walpole said of Gray that “his father was first a box-keeper and then footman to James 11.”  In 1744 Gray, who had succeeded his father in baronetcy, accompanied Robert D’Arcy, fourth earl of Holderness [q.v.], to Venice, and remained there as a British resident until 1753, when he was transferred to Naples as envoy extraordinary to the king of Naples and the two Sicilies.  In 1761 he was again transferred as minister plenipotentiary to the king of Spain, and was made a knight of the Bath.  Owing to the outbreak of war with Spain in that year, he did not take up his residence at Madrid until 1766.  He held that post until 1770.  He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1769, and died in London, unmarried, in January 1773.

He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his younger brother GEORGE GRAY (d. 1773), colonel of the  17^th foot and major-general in the army, who, however, only survived his brother by a few weeks, and died in the following February.  Their mother, Hester, Lady Gray, survived both her sons and died in 1788, aged 97.  She was buried with her sons at Kensington.

Sir James Gray and General Gray are noteworthy as two of the original founders of the Society of Dilettanti in 1732, and they were among the leading spirits of the society.  General Gray acted as secretary and treasurer to the society from 1738 to 1771, and was well known in society as an amateur of architecture.  In 1750, when British resident in Venice, Sir James Gray made acquaintance with James Stuart (1713-1788). [q. v.] and Nicholas Revett [q. v.], then just about to start for Athens.  Through Gray’s influence they were elected members of the Society of Dilettanti, which society thereby became identified with the important works on ‘The Antiques of Athens’, published by Stuart and Revett.  At Naples he took a leading part in the discoveries at Herculaneum, and in the whole progress of classical research.

Portraits of Sir James Gray and General Sir George Gray in fancy dress are among the series painted by Knapton, and still in the possession of the Society of Dilettanti.  The former was one of the party at the celebrated Calves’ Head Club Dinner, on 30^th January 1734, at the White Eagle tavern in Suffolk Street, which resulted in a street riot, and was converted at the moment into a matter of historical importance.

My decision to create my own web-site and placing the information I knew about my ancestors proved to be very worthwhile when Jason M. Kelly (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis) was surprised at finding the image of Sir James Gray's portrait when researching for his article in “The British Art Journal” and was the first person to be able to provide me with a name for the mother of the two children born in Naples.

I happened to ask Jason in an e-mail if he had come across any information about the mother of the two children fathered by Sir James Gray.  To my surprise he said “Yes” and told me her name was Caterina Rosiglio and that he had seen a document written in “Old Italian” declaring Sir James Gray as the father and mentioning Caterina as the mother.  He then forwarded me a scanned copy of that document before I received a copy of “The British Art Journal”.

In the 5 page article "The portraits of Sir James Gray (c1708-73)" published in the British Art Journal (Summer 2007 Edition) Volume V111 No. 1, Jason makes mention of the two children, their dates of birth and that their mother was Caterina Rosiglio (later Bezzi or Bessi).  The article also gives a very good run down of Gray’s life, his involvement with the Dilettanti Society, his achievements, and his family together with images and descriptions of all the known portraits of him.  Jason describes the 1761 portrait as “A ‘lost’ painting by Anton Raphael Mengs” and refers to the two Australian images as "Previously Unknown".  It is a very interesting article, especially for Gray descendants to read.

 

The Old Italian Document is a declaration by Sir James Gray of him actually being the father of the children and the naming of the mother came as quite a surprise but the proof I needed to convince me he was the father of James and Catherine.

After obtaining a copy of the old Italian document I was initially unable to get it completely translated into English as all who tried were put off by the amount of Latin in it.  It was only when Gareth Brown and his wife Eleanor (nee Gray) from Africa found my web-site and I mentioned it to them, I was again amazed that they were able to get it translated in a few hours.  I was unaware of the current Italian Gray line Eleanor descends from and Eleanor together with her mother and grandmother did an amazing job coping with the "Old Italian" language used in the document.

Special thanks must go to Gareth & Eleanor Brown, Eleanor’s mother Vinceza (Gray) and Vinceza’s 86 year old mother who were both visiting from Italy at the time.  Their efforts in fully translating the old document were greatly appreciated.  An image of the old document and the English translation of it can be found on their Gray web-site.

The twists and turns in my thoughts about the possible connection between Caroline Birch Gray to Sir James Gray have been amazing over the last 10 years.  I went from thinking she could have descended from Thomas Gray (The Poet) and went looking for a connection between him and Sir James Gray to now believing she married her own 1st cousin and they are both the grand-children of Sir James Gray.  Caroline being the illegitimate son's daughter and her husband John Davison Smith the illegitimate daughter's son.

Had it not been for the Internet and the interest shown by others to the information on my web-site, I would still be sitting here wondering why the portraits of Sir James Gray ended up in Australia.  Again, thanks to all those who have helped solve this mystery.

 

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