John Henry Gresham Bray, 1840-1923, was born in Worcestershire, England. He served with the 10th Royal Hussars for ten years, then moved to Canada in the early 1870s. He joined the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873, and was stationed at Fort Macleod, Alberta and Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan before his 1882 discharge. He married Jemima McKay, daughter of trader Edward McKay, in 1876 and they had thirteen children, Flora, Elizabeth, Nellie (Crockford), Harry, Reggie, Caroline, Colin, William, Lillian, Louis, Henrietta (Erickson), Bertha and Bertram.

Bray ranched in Alberta near Pincher Creek, 1882-1892, then near Medicine Hat. He was Medicine Hat's brand inspector, ca. 1894-1919, and from 1896 to 1903 was the secretary of the Stock Growers' Association of Medicine Hat. He retired in 1919.

For further information see Ruth M. Daw's article "Sgt-Major J.H.G. Bray, the Forgotten Horseman" in Men in Scarlet / edited by Hugh A. Dempsey. -- Calgary : McClelland and Stewart West, 1974.

His son, Colin Bray, 1888-1964, was born in Pincher Creek. From 1907 to 1913 he worked as a surveyor, and during First World War he served overseas with the Canadian Mounted Rifles. On his return he worked for the Soldier Settlement Board. In 1925 he became a civil servant, working as a civil engineer for the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) and the Water Resources Branch. He became an irrigation expert. He retired in 1958. He and his wife, Dora, whom he married in 1913, had four sons, Colin, Robert, Bernard and Alan. Both Bray Crescent in Medicine Hat and Bray Lake, Alberta are named for Sergeant-Major Bray.