John Cox Bray was born in East Adelaide,a son of Tom Cox Bray (1815–1881),shoemaker from Portsmouth,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.[citation needed]
Educated at St. Peter's College and 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.[citation needed]
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.[1]
Political career
In Adelaide,Bray practised law only briefly,as a solicitor,before being elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as M.P. for East Adelaide on 14 December 1871,a constituency he held until his retirement from politics on 6 January 1892.[2]
Bray served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Education in the 3rd Blyth ministry (15 March 1875 –3 June 1875). He also served as Attorney-General of South Australia (June 1876 –26 October 1877) in the Colton ministry,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 as Leader of the Opposition to the Morgan ministry (October 1877 –24 June 1881),and Premier and Chief Secretary of the Province of South Australia (24 June 1881 –23 April 1884),and Premier and Treasurer of South Australia (23 April 1884 –16 June 1884). At the time,he was the longest-serving premier of the colony.[citation needed]
The Bray Government in 1883 petitioned the British Government for absolute control of the Northern 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.[3]
Bray visited England and the United States from 1884 to 1885,returning to serve as Chief Secretary of South Australia (14 October 1885 –June 1887),and Treasurer (8 June 1886 –7 June 1887) in the 1st Downer ministry. He was acting Premier during Downer's absence in England until June 1887. Due to his popularity,Bray was elected Speaker 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 the East Adelaide by-election,which saw the first Labor MP elected in South Australian history.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
In 1904 Bray's only daughter,Blanche Ada Bray (1881–1908),married,as his first wife,Sir John Lavington Bonython (1875–1960),sometime Mayor and later Lord 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 Bonython AO (1905–1992);Elizabeth Hornabrook Bonython (1907–2008),later Lady Wilson,though better known by the incorrect but popular style Lady Betty WilsonCBE,who lived to age 101;and Ada Bray Heath (1908–1965).
The historic building known as Bray House is situated on the south-eastern corner of Hutt and Wakefield Streets in 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 the Adelaide City Council in 1973.[5]
Birth family
Background
Tom's father,William Bray,rather than being a captain in the Royal Navy as is traditionally claimed,in fact,worked as a cordwainer and cabinet maker prior 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 the Prince 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 79 Hindley Street,Adelaide from 1840 to 1856,when he and his family returned to England.[citation needed] He had the good fortune to be one of the "Snobs" (i.e. tradesmen) who risked their savings on shares in the South Australian Mining Association copper mine at Burra,and made handsome profits.[6]
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.[citation needed]
T.C. Bray lived the rest of his life as a gentleman,moving to Kilmacolm,Renfrewshire in Scotland,where he had descendants in the mid-1980s. He died in Scotland and his will was proved in Scotland and South Australia. Descendants include Sir John Henry Kerr,colonial governor in India,David Russell,classical guitarist,and Piers Sellers,astronaut.[citation needed]
References
↑"The Biographer". Leader. No.1698. Victoria, Australia. 28 July 1888. p.36. Retrieved 15 February 2018– via Trove. a witty contemporary account.
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