Charles Gray (songwriter) facts for kids
Charles Gray (born in 1782, died in 1851) was a Scottish captain in the Royal Marines. He was also well-known for writing songs and poems.
Charles Gray's Life Story
Charles Gray was born in a place called Anstruther, in Fife, Scotland, on March 10, 1782. He was trained for a life at sea from a young age. In 1805, he joined the Royal Marines as an officer. He served for 36 years, which is a very long time!
In 1841, he retired as a captain and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. There, he spent the rest of his life. He became friends with other writers and thinkers of his time, like Robert Chambers.
His Creative Works
Charles Gray loved to write. In 1811, he published his first book called Poems and Songs. It was so popular that a second edition came out just three years later.
In 1813, when he visited his hometown of Anstruther, he helped start a group called the Anstruther Musomanik Society. For four years, this group helped its members create new Scottish songs.
Even while he was a captain in the navy, Gray kept writing poems and songs. After he retired in 1841, he published his second book, Lays and Lyrics. Some of his poems from this book were even turned into songs by a musician named Peter M'Leod. In one of his songs, "When Autumn has laid her sickle by," he shared a rare hint about his life at sea.
Gray also wrote for other collections of songs, like Songs of Scotland by John Muir Wood and a book called Whistle-Binkie. Besides writing his own poems, Charles Gray also wrote about other writers' works. Around 1845, he wrote "Notes on Scottish Song" for a newspaper called the Glasgow Citizen. These notes included his thoughts on the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
His Family Life
Charles Gray got married early in his life to Jessie Carstairs. Her brother was a reverend in Anstruther. Sadly, his wife and one of their two sons passed away before him. When Charles Gray died on April 13, 1851, his other son was serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Marines, just like his father.
