GRAY, ANDREW [SSNE 8054]
- Surname
- GRAY
- First name
- ANDREW
- Title/rank
- 7TH LORD GRAY
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Social status
- NOBLE
- Religion
- ROMAN CATHOLIC
Text source
Andrew 7th Lord Gray served in France. His full biography is n the Dictionary of National Biography. He is here to avoid confusion with Colonel Andrew Gray [SSNE 378] as some sources conflate them.
Source: Stevenson, David. 2004 "Gray, Andrew, seventh Lord Gray (d. 1663), royalist nobleman." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 25 Oct. 2018. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-11327.
In summary
in 1624 he became lieutenant of the Scots gen d'armes in France when the unit was revived by Lord George Gordon of Enzie. On the outbreak of war between France and England in 1627 he moved to England. In 1629 both Gray and his wife Mary were convicted as Roman Catholic recusants, and most of her estates were seized by the crown. In the same year action was taken to ensure that sons of Scottish Catholic noblemen received protestant educations. In December 1638 Charles granted Lord Gray permission to levy a regiment of 1000 men in Scotland for the French service.
Late in 1643 he was in Edinburgh—again recruiting for his French regiment and again it was a bad time to choose, for the covenanters were raising an army for a new invasion of England. In September 1645, Gray was taken prisoner and, on the advice of David Leslie, the committee of estates on 30 October ordered that he be banished from Britain, under threat of being put to death if he returned during the 'troubles'. Clearly it was suspected that he was deep in royalist plots, and this is confirmed by a French diplomat's comment in August 1647 that Gray 'has been detained in Scotland for some years in the service of the KIng of Great Britain.
Gray's banishment was not enforced, however, perhaps because the covenanters wished to avoid offending the French, for whom he continued to seek troops. The church, in June and December 1646, expressed its 'great offence' at his continued presence, but the report that he was excommunicated in 1649 is unconfirmed.
At the request of the exiled Charles II, Gray resigned his lieutenancy of the Scots gens d'armes at some point in the 1650s. He returned to Scotland after the restoration of monarchy in 1660 and died in 1663.
Service record
- FRANCE, SCOTS GEN d'ARMES in FRANCE
- Arrived 1624-01-01, as LIEUTENANT
- Departed 1655-12-31, as COLONEL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY