Henry Wray

1826

Born 1 January, Demerara (British Guiana / Republic of Guyana)

1843
December 20th Graduated Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant

1844
Posted to Ireland

1846
1st April: promoted to rank of 1st lieutenant and sent to Gibraltar

1848
Married Mary Drinkwater at Gibraltar

1850
Returned to England

1851
18 December: arrived with wife at Fremantle on board the' Anna Robertson' in command of Sappers and Miners of 20th Company Royal Engineers to help build the Convict Establishment (Fremantle Prison) and other public buildings, utilities and infrastructure in southern Western Australia; he was in charge of Fremantle district (Lt Edmund Du Cane was in charge of Guildford district east to York and Toodyay whilst Lt. William Crossman was in charge of Albany and Bunbury ports plus roads leading from them); he was appointed as a magistrate to the colony as well as visiting magistrate at Fremantle. Along with his other duties (such as being in command of 20th Company Royal Engineers and designing and planning other public works) he was also responsible for seeing that plans for building the Convict Establishment developed by Cpt Edmund Henderson, Comptroller-General of Convicts, were carried out.

1852
29th November: Formally thanked by authorities "for his exertions in the recovery of the Treasury and Government stores from the wreck of the Eglinton."

1854
17th April: Promoted to rank of 2nd Captain. He prepared a plan for lighting the Establishment with gas produced by burning resin extracted from the native plant Xanthorrhoea hastilis (commonly known as ‘blackboy’); apparatus was ordered and sent out in October 1858 but by then he had left the colony and it was discovered that the Prison had a 7 year supply of oil lamps in store – the plan was quietly dropped

1855
27th December: Wife of Comptroller-General of Convicts, Edmund Henderson, died in Perth (she was buried at the Skinner Street Cemetery in Fremantle)

1856
29th October: Promoted to rank of 1st Captain. In February, the Comptroller-General of Convicts departed for a temporary sojourn in England (until 1858); during Henderson’s absence Wray was made Acting Comptroller-General.

1858
27th January: Received orders to proceed to England – departed Fremantle aboard Nile

1859
31st December: Half-Yearly Report to England stated that the building of the Convict Establishment was completed

1860
5th January: Nominated by Royal Commission to help determine the boundaries between British Honduras and Guatemala (South America)

1863
28th November, ordered to proceed to Japan with a detachment of Royal Marines, to take part in the trade wars

1864
20th July: Ordered to Straits of Shimonoseki to determine strength of enemy positions; resulting attack on 5th September was successful due, in no small measure, to his work
17th August: Appointed C.R.E. (Commander Royal Engineers) in Japan, where his work and actions continued to receive high praise from his superiors; promoted to rank of Major for his services during this time

1865
1st April: Returned to England

1866
1st June: Appointed Superintendent of Architectural Course of Instruction at School of Military Engineering, Chatham, where he proceeded to reform course’s teaching methods

1867
7th July: Promoted to rank of Lieutenant-Colonel

1870
Re-appointed to position of Superintendent of the Architectural Course at Chatham for further five years

1872
6th July: Promoted to rank of Colonel. Published first edition of his ground-breaking book The Theory and Practice of Construction

1873
22nd July: Nominated C.R.E. and Colonel on Staff at Malta, where he became involved with the military and civil engineering projects being carried out in Malta then, work which was later commended in 1875 and 1878

1879
June: Departed Malta. Made C.R.E. in Ireland awarded C.M.G. (Companion of St Michael and St George)

1882
April 26th: Appointment in Ireland ended. Promoted to rank of Major-General

1883
Appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Island of Jersey

1887
5th November: Pensioned from the Army with honorary rank of Lieutenant-General 1891. 4th edition of his book The Theory and Practice of Construction published 1899 during autumn. Stricken by paralysis and confined to wheelchair

1900
6 April: Died at Bournemouth from pneumonia, in his 75th year

Sources:
The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre-1829-1888 Vol IV – Rica Erickson (1988).
Fremantle Prison Research Files – Royal Engineers (various information).
‘Obituary Notice. The Late Lieut.-General H. Wray, C.M.G., R.E.’ The Royal Engineers Journal, June 1, 1900, pp129-134.