Background
Bray was born in Aberdeen and educated at the Realgymnasium, Stuttgart, Blundell"s School in Tiverton and at Balliol College, Oxford (where he was Taylorian Scholar).
Bray was born in Aberdeen and educated at the Realgymnasium, Stuttgart, Blundell"s School in Tiverton and at Balliol College, Oxford (where he was Taylorian Scholar).
Balliol College.
Bray"s publications evidence his deep understanding of the Brahui language and his later work on Shakespeare re-arranged the much disputed argument on the basis of the discovery of a hitherto unexpected rhyme-link or word-link, joining sonnet to sonnet to form an orderly and smoothly flowing whole. Bray passed the Indian Civil Service examination of 1898, and served in the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baluchistan. After serving as Deputy Secretary of the Foreign Department at New Delhi for four years.
Bray was appointed Secretary in 1920, and filled the position with distinction for nearly a decade.
He had a large share in shaping the treaty with Afghanistan negotiated at Kabul by Sir Henry Dobbs in 1921 (which amended the Treaty of Rawalpindi, agreed originally in August 1919, and reaffirmed Britain"s recognition of Afghanistan"s complete independence, and restored to the Afghans the privilege of importing munitions through India). King Aminullah’s impatient forcing of western ways on his people after visiting Europe in 1928 led to a revolt, and grave danger to the inmates of the British Legation at Kabul.
Throughout the time he was on the Indian delegation to the annual Assembly of the League of Nations. Bray also represented India at the international broadcasting conference in 1936.
At the diplomatic conference on terrorism in 1937 and in the mission to Spain on refugee relief in 1938.
On leaving India in 1930 Bray was appointed a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for the India Office, which was transformed before the completion of his seven years into a body of advisers.