Margaret Gray dedicated founder of animal sanctuary has died aged 100

Tributes have been paid to Miss Gray after her death at the John Radcliffe Hospital on Monday following an illness.

In 1967 Miss Gray was one of eight animal lovers who put 80 shillings into a kitty to care for abandoned animals when she was a leading light for the Oxford committee of the RSPCA.

The same year, during a cold Christmas, the Oxford Mail published a picture of Miss Gray feeding hay to ponies on Port Meadow.

This heartwarming image was seen by Sybil Morley, who offered £10,000 to help buy an animal sanctuary.

After the South Oxfordshire Hunt put its property on the market at Stadhampton it became Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary, with volunteers turning the stables and hounds’ quarters into kennels.

In 1970, 35 animals were moved from boarding homes in the county to be the first creatures to be housed at the sanctuary on the village green in Stadhampton.

Miss Gray was founder and chairman of the sanctuary, which she ran 'like a sea captain', according to current chairman Debbie Heath.

She lived for many years in Blandford Avenue, Oxford, and remained closely involved with the running of the sanctuary until she moved into a nursing home a few years ago.

Over the decades Miss Gray ensured that thousands of abandoned animals were looked after and rehomed and developed a network of contacts to bring in as many donations as possible to the charity.

One of the biggest acts of benevolence came in 1998 when Miss Gray revealed £342,000 had been bequeathed to the sanctuary by Oxford academic Dr Nikolaus Polgar.

"I was flabbergasted," she said at the time. "It was remarkable that he should have thought of us."

Miss Gray decided to create the sanctuary after she visited a city dog pound where she saw animals chained to a wall.

Running the sanctuary was not always an easy job but she was determined the animals should be cared for in the right way.

In 1997 she suffered a broken hip after a fall while out buying a new van for the sanctuary and she once faced a death threat after the owners of an abandoned dog decided they wanted their pet back.

Margaret Gray was born in Scotland, the daughter of a sea captain.

She became a nurse, then a physiotherapist serving in the Canadian Naval hospital, reaching the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in the Navy.

After the war, a job as a physiotherapist at Morris Motors brought her to Oxford and led onto posts at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, the Radcliffe Infirmary and the United Oxford Hospitals clinic at Witney, ending with 18 years on a mobile physiotherapy service.

Albert Honey, a volunteer at the sanctuary who worked for Miss Gray, said she was not married and did not have children.

Following Miss Gray's death Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary said in a statement: "Miss Gray established the Sanctuary in 1967 and dedicated her life to the rescue and care of unwanted and abandoned animals.

"Without her we would not have our premises here at Stadhampton.

"She was devoted to the cause of animal protection and only passed on the responsibility as sanctuary chairman when she had to move into a nursing home.

"Thanks to Miss Gray, over the years we have been able to help and care for over 25,000 animals. She will be sorely missed."

A date for the funeral has not yet been announced.