Sidney Maggs Gray was a son of Edward Gray (1818-1888) and Catherine Gray née Cullen (1835-1892). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1876 in the Marylebone Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London), which would indicate he was born in either late 1875 or early 1876.
In the 1881 census he was shown as aged 5 years and living in premises in Princess Street (later renamed as Boscobel Street), Lisson Grove, Marylebone, with his parents and three siblings: Alexander Gray, aged 12 years; Edgar Gray, aged 10 years and Clara Louisa Gray, aged 7 years. His father was listed as a tailor.
The St Pancras Workhouse Register shows him being admitted on 25 April 1900 and being discharged on 5 May 1900. He was described as being born in 1876, living at 17 Clarence Gardens, that he was a boot finisher and a member of the Established Church.
In 29 April 1901 he enlisted at Marylebone as a Private in the Dorsetshire Regiment, service number 6482. He spelt his name as Sydney Maggs Gary and gave his occupation as a boot clicker. He served in this regiment for many years until being discharged and placed on the reserve list.
On the night of the census undertaken on Sunday, 2 April 1911, he is shown as Sydney Gray, aged 35 years and a male cleaner employed by the General Post Office, visiting the home of George Grant, a boot and shoe clicker, his wife Ethel Grant and their two children in a three roomed property at 66 Hastings Houses, Hastings Street, London, W.C.
In April 1912 he was appointed as a porter in the Post Office’s London Western District Office.
On 13 April 1913 he married Anna Maria Spicer at the Holy Trinity Church, Upper Tooting where in the marriage register he is shown as aged 37 years, a bachelor and a porter in the Post Office and residing at ‘W’ District Office, Wimpole Street, London, whilst his wife was described as aged 42 years, a spinster living at 81 Streathbourne Road, Upper Tooting, the daughter of the late Robert Spicer.
They had one child, Sidney George Gray (1914-1996), who was born on 14 July 1914 and whose birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1914 in the Willesden Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London).
On the outbreak of World War One he was recalled to the Dorsetshire Regiment and entered France at Le Harve on 16 August 1914, still as a Private in the regiment's 1st Battalion. He was killed in action on 15 September 1914, aged 38 years and as he has no known grave he is commemorated on Stone 17.A. on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial to the Missing of the Marne, 8 Pl. du Mémorial, 77260 La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, France.
On 11 October 1915 his army effects totalling £1-10s-11d were sent to his widow at 87, Hartland Road, Kilburn, London, who was also sent his £5-0s-0d war gratuity on 15 May 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star with the '5TH AUG - 22ND NOV 1914' clasp, the British War Medal 1914-1914 and the Victory Medal. It was not until 28 May 1928 that probate was granted jointly to his widow and to Isabella Agnes Mole née Earl, the wife of John Bertram Mole. Probate records show him as Sidney Maggs Gray and that his address had been 61 Kings Cross Mansions, Hastings Street, Euston Road, Middlesex (now Greater London) and that his effects totalled £20-0s-0d.
He is shown as 'GRAY, S M' on the Western Postal District war memorial at Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website, on the A Street Near You website and on page 150 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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