THE people of Oxford turned out in force to pay tribute to a one of their most popular and hard-working councillors.

Crowds lined the streets all the way from St Clement’s Church to Rose Hill cemetery when Alderman William Gray – known affectionately as ‘Old Bill’ - died in 1931 after a life of public service.

Under the headline, ‘Great loss to city’, our sister paper, The Oxford Times, reported: “His death will be deplored by the general body of citizens, but by none more than the people of East Oxford, among whom he spent the whole of his life and by whom he was held in great veneration.

“His home was the meeting place, night by night, of those in difficulty, and particularly of those who, following the war, were unable to obtain adequate living accommodation. He gave himself unsparingly to the service of others.

“All the way from the church to the cemetery, people had assembled to pay their last respects to one of the best known and best loved of Oxford men.

“As the cortege passed, people on buses took off their hats and workmen ceased work to salute the coffin.

“At Rose Hill cemetery, another large crowd had assembled, many of whom had waited in the bitter cold for over an hour.”

William Matthew Gray was born in St Clement’s in 1859 and attended the original Cowley St John School in Iffley Road. He was a chorister at a church in Stockmore Street.

After leaving school at 14, he worked for his father’s carpentry and joinery business, and later took over the family firm in Pembroke Street (now Rectory Road).

He was elected to the city council in 1903, winning a record 1,231 votes in East Ward, and served on all the important council committees. He was elected Sheriff in 1910 and Mayor in 1927, and also served as chief magistrate.

He was married twice and had 16 children – three sons were wounded and one was killed in the Battle of the Somme during the First World War.

Many tributes were paid to him when he died, including one from a Mr Butler, who said: “There is no man better loved than Alderman Gray in that ‘Little Borough’ of East Oxford, as he called it. He endeared himself to everyone and had friends in every street.”