Arthur Gray
Personal Information
Description
Arthur Gray (28 September 1852 –12 April 1940) was an English author, academic, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1912 until his death. Gray was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and Jesus College, Cambridge. He was Fellow of Jesus from 1875 to 1885; Junior Proctor from 1885 to 1886; and Senior Tutor and Vice-Master from 1895 to 1912. As a writer, Gray is primarily known for his Gothic ghost short stories collected in 1919 in Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye, published under the pseudonym "Ingulphus". Gray also wrote several works exploring the life of Shakespeare, and he was also the author of local history works dedicated to Cambridge and the University of Cambridge. Gray had six sons with his wife Alice Honora Gell (born 1857), whom he married in 1882. He was widowed in 1927 and died in the Master's Lodge in 1940 at the age of 87.
Books
Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye
"This Society consisteth of seven Everlastings, who may be Corporeal or Incorporeal, as Destiny shall determine." So dictates the first rule of The Everlasting Club, the ghastly and debauched history of which is faithfully recorded herein. Assembled alongside are further narratives of supernatural misadventure and menace, including the curious tale of the death of mathematician Thomas Allen, possible necromancer, definite murder victim; the story of the final days of alchemist Anthony Fryar, discoverer of the Magisterium – the ‘master-cure for all human ailments’, but sadly not soon enough; and Matthew Makepeace’s cautionary tale of unforeseen regret wrought from the dark art of soul transference. ‘Ingulphus’ was the pseudonym of Arthur Gray (1852–1940), Master of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1912–40. It is this location that acts as the setting for the series of stories originally written for magazines and then collected as Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye. A contemporary of M.R. James, Gray wrote these stories in similar style as a compliment to the King's College Provost.