Sous-série 154 - E.N. Hillman Gray’s reception into the Catholic Church

28 pp; typescript; black and white print

A file relating to Squadron Leader Edwin Noel Hillman Gray’s request to be received into the Catholic Church. The covering letter is addressed to the secretary of the Capuchin Publications Office in Dublin. Includes a summary of the career of E.N. Hillman Gray ‘Medical Office of Health, Runcorn Urban and Rural Districts / and Medical Superintendent Isolation Hospital, Dutton’. Also includes a photographic print and several character references and testimonials in Gray’s favour. Gray’s covering letter states that his grandfather William Carty ‘was a great friend and worker with the late Father Mathew’. He also suggests that a motion film based on Father Mathew’s life would be desirable from a ‘propaganda’ perspective.

Edwin Noel Hillman Gray was born in Donnybrook in Dublin on 17 December 1893. He was a veteran of the Great War and later served as a senior Royal Air Force officer during the Second World War. He held the rank of Squadron Leader and was a member of the RAF Medical Services (RAFMS), a role for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1942. During the war, he served as the Station Commander at RAF Manston and later as Air Officer Commanding at various groups, including No. 223 (Composite) Group and No. 224 Group. For additional biographical information see https://www.noonans.co.uk/archive/lot-archive/results/307139/