Dr Gray’s Hospital, the third oldest
existing hospital in the Grampian area, takes its name from Elgin-born
Alexander Gray, who spent over 20 years of his life in Bengal as
a surgeon for the East India Company.
Like others in the Company, he was able
to take advantage of local trading opportunities to amass a considerable
personal fortune.
Gray died in India in 1807 and bequeathed
the bulk of his money to his native town for various charitable
purposes, including the sum of £20,000 "for the establishment
of a hospital in the town of Elgin for the sick and the poor of
the town and county of Murray (Moray)".
Gray’s heirs contested the will and
for seven years legal proceedings delayed any further progress but
in 1814, the Court of Chancery finally declared that the will should
stand.
A site for the hospital - "a field
immediately West of the Town of Elgin" - was purchased and
the foundation stone was laid on 11 July 1815.
The 30-bed hospital, which was designed
by James Gillespie Graham, an Edinburgh architect recommended by
the Earl of Moray, opened to patients on 1 January 1819.
