Philip Gray

Philip Gray (1821 – 28 February 1857) was an Irish republican, revolutionary and a member of the Irish Confederation. He took part in the Risings of 1848 and 1849 along with James Fintan Lalor and both James Stephens and John O'Mahony, who would go on to establish the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland and the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States.

Philip Gray was born in Dublin, Ireland; a former mechanic, clerk and part-time medical student, he along with Thomas Clarke Luby, according to Owen McGee, constituted the remnants of the Irish revolutionary conspiracy started in 1849.

He joined the Swift Confederate Club in 1847, and became its secretary and leading inspiration. Under his influence the Club became one of the most militant and active of the Dublin clubs.

Gray studied military texts and began drilling bodies of men every evening in the Club premises in Queen's Street. The members of the Club also tried recruiting from English regiments, stationed in Ireland. The Swift Confederate Club was very frustrated when the Confederate leaders came to the decision not to attempt the rescue of John Mitchel before his transportation.

While William Smith O'Brien attempted to arouse a Rebellion in the South of Ireland, Gray tried to instigate an insurrection in County Meath, and failing, left his position in the Railway office in Drogheda and made his way to County Tipperary. After the failure at Ballingarry on 29 July 1848, he joined up with John O'Mahony, who entrusted the command of the County Waterford insurgents to John Savage and Gray. He was involved in an attack on the Portlaw police barracks. O'Mahony described Gray years later as the most indomitable man he met in 1848.

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