Author Topic: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray  (Read 1022 times)

Offline peakoverload

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Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« on: Tuesday 02 February 21 22:02 GMT (UK) »
So this is a bit of an odd one and I suspect it's a case of a family story either being half true or at least covered up to hide the real story.

Charles Haddon Gray was my Great Grand Uncle b1866 d01/02/1941 in Addleston, Surrey, England. For most of his life he lived in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey and practiced as a solicitor. He was married to a Florence Camilla Martin and they had one child, Charles Haddon Redvers Gray (CHRG).

For years I could find almost nothing about CHRG apart from his birth, the 1901 and 1911 census and his death in 1971. I have however just found him on the 1939 register where he was listed as an unemployed Company Secretary in Walton-On-Thames.

The fact that I couldn't find anything about him seemed to fit a family story. That being that one day he decided to give everything up and essentially became a vagrant or at least someone who just roamed around. The story goes that the family were embarrassed by him as he would occasionally just turn up at their door and would stay a day or two before disappearing again. The main thing was that it was his choice to live like this and that he actually liked it. Indeed the impression I got was that he liked to cause embarrassment to his family.

Now this story came to me from my father but he now has dementia and so I can't verify any of this with him anymore.

However, I've just been searching the British Newspaper Archives and I found an article that suggests something else. With a name like this, I would also think it unlikely that there would be two people of the same name. For example:

June 1st 1934 - Thanet Advertiser - A Charles Haddon Redvers Grey is a solicitor in a fraud case where it states he is "of Chancery Lane"

There is also a book called The Mayfair Mafia: The Lives and Crimes of the Messina Brothers which apparently is a true crime book by Dick Kerby which is about "From the mid-1930s into the 1950s, one immigrant Italian family ran London’s thriving vice trade"

This is available on Google Books and in it it says:

"To start with, in 1934 Eugenio had already been busy. On 28 July at Bow Street Police Court, Charles Haddon Redvers Grey, a 33 year old solicitor of Crown Court, Chancery Lane, pleaded guilty to making a false declaration by saying that Hilda Ward, a 20 year old barmaid, was a fit and proper person to receive a passport. In mitigation, Mr, J. Thompson Halsall told the magistrate, Sir Rollo Frederick Graham-Campbell, that his client had been introduced to the girl by an estate agent with whom he had had many dealings and had no reason to disbelieve, and added that Gray was 'more foolish than knavish'. Fining Gray £50 and ordering him to pay 10 guineas cost, Sir Rollo sternly informed the prisoner that the offence was a serious one, punishable with a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment and a fine of £100"

His age of 33 in 1934 matches the birth of my CHRG so I'm as sure as I can be that these people are all one in the same.

Now it could be that after this he decided to quit and 'go off' or perhaps he lost his job and couldn't find work or perhaps he had some kind of mental breakdown. Alternatively perhaps he continued working somewhere, I can't tell as there just doesn't appear to be any records of him.

Does anyone know where else I could search for him to see what happened to him? Presumably there must be court records of this case, where would I be able to access them? Does anyone know if there are records of solicitors like when they qualified etc? I found a notice in the paper for when his father qualified as a solicitor but nothing for CHRG.
Johnson: London & Maidstone
Foster: Essex
Leach: London
Jennings, Camberwell, London
Gray: South London
Dashwood: London
Mason: Maidstone & London
Neville/Stiff: Hampshire & USA

Online mckha489

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Offline CaroleW

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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 02 February 21 23:08 GMT (UK) »
Doesn’t appear to have left a will.  You could buy a copy of his death cert to see who reported his death but death certs don’t always yield a lot of info
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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 02 February 21 23:09 GMT (UK) »
He was struck off in 1935

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34169/page/3844


The Law society might have a record of the disciplinary hearing.  Whether they would let you see it.....


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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 02 February 21 23:24 GMT (UK) »
If you search the newspapers with just Redvers Gray there are a couple more appearances.

The father had a second wife, according to report of his funeral.

Offline Radcliff

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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 11 February 21 10:57 GMT (UK) »
Have you read the book Tambimuttu 1915- 1983 it mentions Redvers by his full name as well as just Redvers, also there is a photo of him, very bohemian lifestyle
Gunning County Down,Kneale Isle of Man,Riddle Tynemouth,Bibby Kendal/Bradford,Colenso Penzance/Barrow-in-Furness,Steele Corney Fell,Chapman Ely,Dawes Alfreton,Blamire Westmoreland and Ulverston
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Offline jomcd967

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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 11 February 21 11:21 GMT (UK) »
What a brilliant find Radcliff  :)
Puplett, Sonnex, Lott, Dunkiss, Hart - London area.
Hudson, Jenner, Dedman - Sussex
Leach, Hopkins, Saunders - Wales
Leach, Lipscombe - Hampshire
Sipthorpe - Lancashire
Walters - Cornawall & Australia
Kingshott, Matheson, Pitt, McDonald, Keogh - Australia.

Offline Radcliff

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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 11 February 21 11:52 GMT (UK) »
He also gets a mention in the book
150 years of Humorous writings in Punch, Grafton, 1992
for his attempt to invent a submarine made from blotting paper
you possibly will find a copy online, its only a small mention, but it helps build a bigger picture,
what a character he must have been
Gunning County Down,Kneale Isle of Man,Riddle Tynemouth,Bibby Kendal/Bradford,Colenso Penzance/Barrow-in-Furness,Steele Corney Fell,Chapman Ely,Dawes Alfreton,Blamire Westmoreland and Ulverston
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Offline peakoverload

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Re: Charles Haddon Redvers Gray
« Reply #8 on: Friday 12 February 21 11:42 GMT (UK) »
Thank you so much for this! This is really interesting and confirms a few things I suspected about him and gives me a few more leads on other bits too. I have a photo of him when he was younger and there is definitely a resemblance, so for certain it's the same person.

Amazing bit of detective work!!
Johnson: London & Maidstone
Foster: Essex
Leach: London
Jennings, Camberwell, London
Gray: South London
Dashwood: London
Mason: Maidstone & London
Neville/Stiff: Hampshire & USA