A reader shares their discoveries
The death notice in the Leicester Chronicle of 18 December 1880 reads, “GRAY - On the 19th Oct, at Yokohama, James Gray of Leicester, aged 67.” For Nigel Gray, James’ great great grandson, these 13 words were pivotal in making sense of his family history, which played out across the Far East. During his journey, he discovered forebears involved in key events and even identified his very own James Bond.
VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
Nigel’s book Too Far East? is his unravelling of his Gray family’s history (with much help from a network of cousins and contacts) and the world events that affected them. When he started in 2011, he knew very little. “My parents separated when I was seven, and my father died when I was 18. What I knew posed more questions than answers, which was one of the reasons I wrote the book.”
Nigel was born in India, his brother
