John Cox Bray

The Hon. Sir John Cox Bray KCMG
Bray, c. 1880
15thPremier of South Australia
In office 24 June 1881 – 16 June 1884
Governor	Sir William Jervois Sir William Robinson
Preceded by	William Morgan
Succeeded by	John Colton
Personal details
Born	John Cox Bray (1842-05-31)31 May 1842 Adelaide,South Australia
Died	13 June 1894(1894-06-13)(aged 52) At sea
Education	St Peter's College, Adelaide

Sir John Cox BrayKCMGJP(31 May 1842 – 13 June 1894) was a prominentSouth Australianpolitician and the first native-bornPremier of South Australia(1881–1884).

Early life and education

John Cox Bray was born in EastAdelaide,a son ofTom Cox Bray(1815–1881), shoemaker fromPortsmouth,Hampshire,and Sarah Bray, née Pink, (1813–1877), from the same county. John was the second of their four sons (with two daughters), all born in Adelaide.

Educated atSt. Peter's Collegeand in England, Bray read law in South Australia, being articled to W. T. Foster, and was called to the South Australian Bar in November 1870.

He joined the able lawyer J. B. Sheridan in partnership as Bray and Sheridan, but his mercurial temperament made him ill-suited to the practice of law; however, he had the wit and debating skills for a life of politics.

Political career

In Adelaide, Bray practised law only briefly, as asolicitor,before being elected to theSouth Australian House of Assemblyas M.P. forEast Adelaideon 14 December 1871, a constituency he held until his retirement from politics on 6 January 1892.

Bray served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Education in the 3rdBlythministry (15 March 1875 – 3 June 1875). He also served asAttorney-General of South Australia(June 1876 – 26 October 1877) in theColtonministry, when he was responsible for introducing an "Act to Provide for the formation and registration of trades unions", the first such legislation in Australia. He served asLeader of the Oppositionto theMorganministry (October 1877 – 24 June 1881), and Premier and Chief Secretary of the Province of South Australia (24 June 1881 – 23 April 1884), and Premier andTreasurer of South Australia(23 April 1884 – 16 June 1884). At the time, he was the longest-serving premier of the colony.

The Bray Government in 1883 petitioned the British Government for absolute control of theNorthern Territory,put in 1865 under the administration of South Australia, but on the grounds that at some future time it might be necessary to erect a separate colony in the north their request was refused.

Bray visited England and theUnited Statesfrom 1884 to 1885, returning to serve asChief Secretary of South Australia(14 October 1885 – June 1887), and Treasurer (8 June 1886 – 7 June 1887) in the 1stDownerministry. He was acting Premier during Downer's absence in England until June 1887. Due to his popularity, Bray was electedSpeaker of the South Australian House of Assembly(served 31 May 1888 – June 1890), after which he refused renomination to that office. He was Chief Secretary in the 2nd Playford ministry (19 August 1890 – 6 January 1892), when he left politics, sparking theEast Adelaide by-election,which saw the first Labor MP elected in South Australian history.

Bray attended theSydney Intercolonial Conferencein 1883, and was one of seven South Australian representatives at thefirst Federal Convention at Sydneyin 1891.

Later life and legacy

Bray was appointedAgent General for South Australiain London (served 29 February 1892 – April 1894), resigning early because of ill health. He was created a Knight Commander of theOrder of St Michael and St George(KCMG) byQueen Victoriain the New Year's Honours List for 1890.

On 13 June 1894, he died at sea betweenAdenandColomboaboard theOceanaen route for South Australia. His obituary appeared inThe Times(London) of 19 June 1894.

Bray was the first native-born South Australian to serve as premier, speaker, and agent-general for the colony.

His wife, Alice Maude née Hornabrook, Lady Bray, (1850 – 13 July 1935), whom he married in 1870, survived him. They had three sons and one daughter.

Descendants

• The youngest son, Harry Midwinter Bray (1879–1965), an Adelaide stockbroker, was the father of the Honourable DrJohn Jefferson Bray(1912–1995), poet, lawyer, academic, and judge, who served asChief Justice of South Australiaand Chancellor of theUniversity of Adelaide.
• In 1904 Bray's only daughter, Blanche Ada Bray (1881–1908), married, as his first wife, SirJohn Lavington Bonython(1875–1960), sometime Mayor and laterLord Mayor of Adelaide,member of the well-known family of newspaper proprietors, philanthropists, and art connoisseurs. They had three children; she died in childbirth aged 26:John Langdon BonythonAO (1905–1992); Elizabeth Hornabrook Bonython (1907–2008), later Lady Wilson, though better known by the incorrect but popular styleLady Betty WilsonCBE,who lived to age 101; and Ada Bray Heath (1908–1965).

Bray's descendants continue to include people prominent inAustralian politicsand theAustralian judiciary.

Family home in Adelaide

The historic building known asBray Houseis situated on the south-eastern corner ofHuttandWakefield Streetsin Adelaide city centre. Built and then extended in the early to mid-19th century, the home was bought by Bray in 1880. The Hutt Street frontage was built for him, and the house remained in the Bray family until it was bought by theAdelaide City Councilin 1973.

Birth family

Background

Tom's father, William Bray, rather than being a captain in theRoyal Navyas is traditionally claimed, in fact, worked as acordwainerandcabinet makerprior to his early death in 1816, aged about 26 years. Tom and Sarah were married at St Mary's parish church,Portsea,Hampshire, on 22 July 1838, just prior to their embarkation for Australia in thePrince George,arriving in the colony in December 1838. Sarah's father, William Pink (died 1853), also settled in Adelaide, and was employed as a labourer in the Survey of South Australia. Tom Cox Bray had a boot and shoe factory at 79Hindley Street, Adelaidefrom 1840 to 1856, when he and his family returned to England.He had the good fortune to be one of the "Snobs" (i.e. tradesmen) who risked their savings on shares in theSouth Australian Mining Associationcopper mine at Burra, and made handsome profits.

The Bray family appears to have moved to the Portsmouth area from theIsle of Wight,in contradiction to the very garbled accounts of their origins to be found inBurke's Colonial Gentry(1891–1895), volume 2, under "Bray of Adelaide", and in the American Supplement (1939) toBurke's Landed Gentry(1937 edition), andBurke's American Families with British Ancestry,and found under "Bray" (covering the career and descent of ProfessorWilliam Crowell Bray(1879–1946), head of the Chemistry department at theUniversity of California, Berkeley,who belonged to the Canadian branch of the Bray family which had been established inUpper Canadain 1839 byWilliam Bray, J.P., R.N.(1814–1882), agunnery officerin theRoyal Navy,and the elder brother of T.C. Bray).

Return to England

John Cox Bray's parents, elder brother and sisters returned to England at some point during his early career, due to an improvement in their circumstances said to be the result of Tom Cox Bray's having inherited shipping interests from his paternal grandfather, possibly George Bray (elsewhere called Charles Bray), who had disapproved of his son's marriage to Ann Cox (1789–1840), later Winship, daughter of a farmer from Southsea, Hampshire.

Once in England, the family lived in comfort first atBlackheathinKent,and later atHarrogate,theYorkshirespa townin which Mrs Bray died. The elder son,Thomas William Bray(1840–1887), was sent toClare College, Cambridge,and later became anAnglicanclergyman. He was father ofSir Denys Bray(1875–1951),K.C.S.I.,K.C.I.E.,C.B.E.,sometimeForeign Secretaryto theGovernment of India,and Indian delegate to theLeague of Nationsduring theBritish colonial period.

T.C. Bray lived the rest of his life as a gentleman, moving toKilmacolm,RenfrewshireinScotland,where he had descendants in the mid-1980s. He died in Scotland and his will was proved in Scotland and South Australia. Descendants include SirJohn Henry Kerr,colonial governor in India,David Russell,classical guitarist, andPiers Sellers,astronaut.

References

• Bray, J. J.(1969)."Bray, Sir John Cox (1842-1894)".Australian Dictionary of Biography.Canberra: National Centre of Biography,Australian National University.pp. 220–221.ISBN978-0-522-84459-7.ISSN1833-7538.OCLC70677943.Retrieved19 August2022.
• Serle, Percival(1949)."Bray, John Cox".Dictionary of Australian Biography.Sydney:Angus & Robertson.
• Richard Herbert Bray Carruthers-Żurowski,The Bray Family of England, Canada, and Australia(1986), deposited in the libraries of theHampshire Family History Societyand theSouth Australian Society for Genealogy and Heraldry.

External links

• Mennell, Philip(1892)."Bray, Hon. Sir John Cox".The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.London: Hutchinson & Co – viaWikisource.