23 



an alderman of this town, was born in the parish 

 of St. Mary, on the !21st of March, 1756. His 

 talents, and the refinement of manners which he 

 had acquired during a five years' residence on 

 the Continent, for the purpose of finishing his edu- 

 cation, rendered him an ornament to the Bench : 

 but this town alone did not profit by his abilities; 

 the nation at large became his debtor for his in- 

 genuity in conceiving, and his indefatigable per- 

 severance in bringing to perfection, the plan 

 which, at his suggestion, was adopted by the 

 Committee of the Waterloo Subscription Fund, 

 for the permanent and effectual relief, by means 

 of donations and annuities, of the children 

 and widows of our brave countrymen who 

 fell in that memorable battle.* Mr. Wray 

 died in Park-place, St. James's, Westminster, 

 where he had for some time resided, on 

 the llth April, 1820.f He has no claim to 



Shortly after Mr. Wray's death, a splendidly bound volume, con- 

 taining a copy of his Letter to the Committee, explanatory of his plan for 

 the distribution of the Fund, with a detail of the calculations on which 

 it was founded, was presented to his Family by the surviving Members of 

 the Committee. It bears the following inscription : " This copy of a 

 series of valuable calculations, made by the late John Wray, Esq., as a 

 basis for the scale of donations and annuities, in the distribution of the 

 Waterloo Subscription, is presented to his Family, as a token of the 

 gratitude and esteem entertained for his memory, by the surviving 

 Members of the Committee of Distribution Charles Price, Chairman. 

 Committee Room, Cornhill { Itith May, 1821." 



f Mr. Wray left two sons, natives of Hull; of whom the elder is the 

 present Receiver of the Metropolitan Police, and the younger is the Pre- 

 sident of the Colony of Deuierara. 



