# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Gray, Matthew

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​GRAY. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 12; h-p., 30.)
Matthew (Philpot Berry) Gray, born 13 Dec. 1793, at Ballinrobe, co. Mayo, is son of the late Capt. Owen Wynne Gray, of the 6th Dragoon Guards. He is brother of Lieut. Chas Gray, of the 30th Regt., who was killed at the storming of ​Badajoa; of Capt. Wm. Gray, who died of wounds received in Canada; of Major Owen Wynne Gray, of the 62nd, who fell in action; and of Hugh Gray, who lost his life during the Burmese war. He is uncle of the present Governor of South Australia.
This officer entered the Navy, 30 April, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Isis 50, Capt. John Acworth Ommanney, bearing the flag of Sir Erasmus Gower, Governor of Newfoundland, from which place he returned to England in March, 1807. He re-embarked (having been intermediately employed in the study of navigation), 3 Jan. 1807, on board the Brilliant 28, Capt. Thos. Smyth, and during the next two years was actively engaged on the coast of France, where, besides blockading the ports of Cherbourg and St. Malo, he joined in many cutting-out affairs, contributed much to the obstruction of the enemy’s coasting-trade, and assisted at the capture of a privateer. Becoming Midshipman, then, of the Thalia 36, Capts. Thos. Manby and Jas. Giles Vashon, Mr. Gray presently accompanied the former officer in supposed pursuit of two French frigates to Davis Strait. On his return to Europe, after a fruitless exposure of several weeks to many severe hardships, and a prolonged stay on the coast of Labrador, he accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren, and, on 11 Aug. 1809, assisted in forcing the passage between the batteries of Flushing and Cadsand. Prior to sailing in the Thalia for the West Indies, Mr. Gray next, in one of that frigate’s boats, and while in attendance on the King off Weymouth, assisted in saving the royal barge; an occasion on which the late Sir Harry Neale lost his son. In Feb. 1810, having arrived in the West Indies, he there joined the Hebe 32, Capt. John Fyffe, and (with the exception of a brief attachment, in the autumn of 1811, to the Thisbe 28, guard-ship in the river Thames) he continued to serve on that station, both in the Hebe and in the Arethusa 38, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Stirling, Polyphemus 64, Capt. Douglas, and Variable 6, Lieut. Commander Rich. Augustus Yates, until June, 1813. During the period of his servitude in the latter vessel, Mr. Gray was thrice placed in charge of prizes of great value, the whole of which he succeeded in conducting through the difficult and dangerous navigation which leads into Nassau, New Providence. On his return home with Vice-Admiral Stirling, in the Bedford 74, he was ordered to join the Asia 74, bearing the flag in North America of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, by whom he was invested, 29 July, 1814, with the command, as Sub-Lieutenant, of the Anna Maria advice-vessel. After witnessing the ensuing capitulation of Alexandria, we find him leading Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon’s squadron down the Potomac, and effecting the destruction, during the descent, of one of the enemy’s forts. Having further attended the expedition to Baltimore, he was next employed in covering a foraging party at Windmill Point, where he landed and, with only 24 men, defeated a large detachment of American militia, but not without receiving a slight sword-wound on the elbow, and two buckshot in the leg. In reward for the zeal, diligence, and activity he had displayed in the performance of these services, he was promoted by Sir Alex. Cochrane to the rank of Lieutenant 3 Sept. 1814. After the attack upon Cumberland Island Mr. Gray, who had previously shared in the operations against Crany Island, . proceeded to Bermuda with despatches for the Governor, Sir Jas. Cockburn. While there he had the good fortune to recover the Countess of Harcourt East Indiaman, which had been abandoned by the persons in charge of her, and which, with the assistance of the Coquette, who subsequently came up, he brought into port. Sir Alex. Cochrane, after this, appointed him to the command, 22 April, 1815, of the St. Lawrence 14, on leaving which vessel he successively joined the Goree 16, Capt. John Willson, and Niger 38, Capt. Sam. Jackson. He returned home from North America in Aug. 1816, on board the Buffalo, having been officially promoted by commission dated 9 Feb. 1815, and has since been on half-pay.
He married, 8 March, 1820, Anne, eldest daughter of Thos. Lennon, Esq., of Colehill House, late High Sheriff for co. Longford, and has issue two sons and two daughters. His youngest son is a Midshipman in the R.N.