Hamish Gray, Baron Gray of Contin

British politician (1927–2006)

The Right Honourable

The Lord Gray of Contin

PC DL

Minister of State for Scotland
In office
13 June 1983 – 11 September 1986
Monarch| Elizabeth II
Prime Minister| Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by| The Earl of Mansfield
Succeeded by| The Lord Glenarthur
Minister of State for Energy
In office
7 May 1979 – 13 June 1983
Monarch| Elizabeth II
Prime Minister| Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by| Dickson Mabon
Succeeded by| Alick Buchanan-Smith
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
4 July 1983 – 14 March 2006
Life Peerage
Member of Parliament
for Ross and Cromarty
In office
18 June 1970 – 13 May 1983
Preceded by| Alasdair Mackenzie
Succeeded by| constituency abolished
Personal details
Born| 28 June 1927
Died| 14 March 2006
(aged 78)
Political party| Conservative

James Hector Northey "Hamish" Gray, Baron Gray of Contin, PC, DL (28 June 1927 – 14 March 2006) was a Scottish Conservative politician and life peer.

Gray was born in Inverness and educated at the Inverness Royal Academy. His father owned an Inverness roofing firm. He was commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 1945 and served in India, during partition. He married Judith Waite Brydon in 1953 and they had two sons and a daughter.

He was elected as an Independent member of Inverness Council in 1965 and at the 1970 general election he was elected to Parliament as the Conservative and Unionist Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross and Cromarty. He was appointed to the Whips' Office in 1971, and he served as a front bench Energy spokesman (1975–1979). Upon the Conservatives' return to government in 1979, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Energy under David Howell, where he remained until the 1983 general election, when he was defeated in the new Ross, Cromarty and Skye constituency by the SDP candidate Charles Kennedy.

He was made a life peer in 1983, taking the title Baron Gray of Contin, of Contin, in the District of Ross and Cromarty,[1] and was Minister of State for Scotland from 1983 to 1986.

He served Inverness as Deputy lieutenant (1989),[2] Vice Lord Lieutenant (1994) and Lord Lieutenant (1996–2002).[3]

He died on 14 March 2006 at a hospice in Inverness after a long battle with cancer.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "No. 49410". The London Gazette. 8 July 1983. p. 9009.
2. ^ "No. 51831". The London Gazette. 4 August 1989. p. 9056.
3. ^ "No. 24087". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 November 1996. p. 2689.

* Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Hamish Gray

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by

Alasdair Mackenzie

|  Member of Parliament for Ross and Cromarty
1970–1983 | Constituency abolished
Honorary titles
Preceded by

Lachlan Mackintosh

|  Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire
1996–2002  | Succeeded by

Donald Angus Cameron