Todd Gray (historian)

Dr. Todd Gray FRHistS, MBE is a historian of the county of Devon, England, long based at Exeter University. As of 2007 he was Honorary Research Fellow of Exeter University, Chairman of the Devonshire Association and of Friends of Devon's Archives (retired 2014), and President of the Family History Society.[1] He famously claimed that the Cornish Pasty was in fact invented in Devon in about 1460[1] which not only caused consternation in Cornwall, but was remarked upon as far away as China.[1][2]

Biography

Gray was born in New England, and visited England for the first time as a schoolboy in the 1970s.[3] As an undergraduate student Gray returned to England to attend the University of London to complete his degree, and in 1989 obtained a Doctorate in History from Exeter University. He remains in 2017 a Research Fellow of the University and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He obtained British citizenship in 2006.[1] Gray has served as Chairman of the Devonshire Association and of Friends of Devon's Archives, and continues as Chairman of the Devon & Cornwall Record Society. In 2014 he retired as President of the Family History Society.[1] and in 2017 as President of the Devonshire Association. In 2016 he gave the Joyce Youings Lecture at Exeter University. In 2017 he walked from Lyme Regis to Hartland, giving a lecture each of the 11 nights in a village or town, to promote interest in the history of Devon. Gray served as a trustee of the South West Heritage Trust (2014-2017). He was awarded the MBE in the 2014 New Year's Honours List as retiring Chairman of the Friends of Devon's Archives and for services to Devon's heritage. At one time he wrote a weekly column "history Matters" for the Exeter Express and Echo local newspaper.[3]

Publications

Gray is said to have written more widely on Devon than any other Devon historian[3] and has published over 40 works,[1] many through his own publishing company[3] including:

  • Early Stuart Mariners and Shipping, 1990
  • Tudor and Stuart Devon, 1992
  • Devon Documents, 1996
  • Devon Household Accounts, 1627–59, Part II, Henry, Fifth Earl of Bath and Rachel, Countess of Bath, 1637-1655, Devon and Cornwall Record Society, Exeter, 1996
  • Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999
  • Blackshirts in Devon

Published by Mint Press

Further works by Todd Gray:[3]

  • The Art of the Devon Garden
  • Christmas in Devon
  • Christmas Stories 'round a Dartmoor Hearth
  • Christmas Stories Exeter
  • Christmas Ghost Stories
  • Christmas Romance
  • Concise Histories Elizabethan Devon
  • Curious Sexual Adventure of Rev J Prince
  • Dartmoor Engraved
  • Devon Almanac
  • Devon Country Houses & Gardens Engraved
  • Devon's Ancient Bench Ends
  • Devon's Fifty Best Churches
  • Exeter Engraved Vol. 1 Secular City
  • Exeter Engraved Vol. 2 Cathedral & Churches
  • Exeter In The 1940s
  • Exeter Maps
  • Exeter News Photographs, 1940s
  • Exeter Remembers the War
  • Exeter Unveiled
  • Lest Devon Forgets
  • Lost Devon
  • Lost Exeter
  • Remarkable Women of Devon
  • The Chronicle of Exeter, 1205 – 1722
  • The Essence of Exeter
  • Traveller's Tales Cornwall
  • Traveller's Tales East Devon
  • Traveller's Tales Exeter
  • Victorian News Totnes
  • Victorian Under Class
  • Victorian Wild Flowers of Devon

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Devon Radio Presenter Judi Spiers interviews Exeter's Famous Historian Dr Todd Gray - Celebrity Interviews". Devonlife.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  2. ↑ "(He) specialises in digging up facts about the county's past, some of which make the Cornish gnash their teeth. I'm big in Beijing! announced Dr Todd Gray" (Spiers interview)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Stevens Books ~ Book Distribution". Stevensbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
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