Grey Name Meaning

Raleigh Grey

was a pioneer British coloniser of Southern Rhodesia who played an important part in the early government of the colony. Grey was elected at the first election in 1899 to represent Mashonaland. It was subsequently discovered that his supporters had committed bribery and treating of potential voters, and Grey resigned in order to be re-elected free of the taint of electoral corruption. After serving in the Second Boer War, Grey retired from the Army in 1904 but remained Commandant of the local Volunteers. He established the company Rhodesia Lands, Ltd. to develop mining and farming interests: the 'Jumbo' mine owned by his company became one of the most profitable. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. In the early 1920s the Southern Rhodesians decided to break away from the sponsorship of the British South Africa Company. The issue among the leading figures of the colony was whether to obtain their own 'Responsible Government' or to seek membership of the Union of South Africa. Grey strongly believed that joining South Africa would be preferable, and argued forcibly for it in the Legislative Council. However the majority there and among the public was against him, and as a result he lost his seat in the 1920 election.