Hugh Gray McPherson

Jamaican attorney, cousin of Charles Gordon Gray (q.v.).

1. The genealogy of the Gray family is outlined in an obituary for Hugh Gray McPherson's aunt Barbara Gray who died in Edinbugh in 1810 aged 83. Their father was Hugh Gray, a tacksman of Helmsdale in Sutherland. There were three sons: the eldest Robert (Barbara's twin) who "rendered himself famous by introducing into the Island of Jamaica and keeping a pen of cattle much superior to any thing of the kind known there before his time"; the middle son Charles studied medicine and died young; the third Mr John Gray, as of 1810, "lives in England, a very worthy character." Charles Gordon Gray was the son of Robert Gray. The only surviving issue of the four daughters of Hugh Gray, as of 1810, was Mr Hugh Macpherson, "of the Island of Jamaica."

2. He is probably the Hugh Gray McPherson, son of Hector McPherson and Jane his wife, born 18/02/1768 and baptised in the Scotch Church, Swallow Street, St James, Westminster, 23/02/1768. Jean Gray married Hector McPherson in St James, 18/01/1766. Hector had another two children with his wife, the records of whom also give the mother's name as Jean rather than Jane: Robert Charles who was born 11/05/1769 at Upper John Street, Golden Square, and was buried 26/04/1771; and Robert who was born 25/08/1771 at Upper John Street and baptised in the Scotch Church 05/09/1771.

1. Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 80 part 1 (1810) p. 180.

2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]; Ancestry.com, England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936 [database online]; Ancestry.com, Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database online].

We are grateful to Michael Rhodes and Kevin Ibbertson for their assistance with compiling this entry.