| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1920-04-25)25 April 1920 Bermondsey, London, England |
| Died | 20 May 2015(2015-05-20) (aged 95) |
| President of theBritish Cycling Federation | |
| In office 1976–1986 | |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Cycling |
Edna Eileen Mary GrayCBE, (25 April 1920 – 20 May 2015) was an international bicycle racer who founded theWomen's Cycle Racing Association, and was president of theBritish Cycling Federation. She was also mayor of theRoyal Borough of Kingston upon Thames andOlympic torchbearer for the 2012 London Olympics.
Gray was born inBermondsey, London, on 25 April 1920.[1] As a youngster she lived inDulwich, nearHerne Hill Velodrome. DuringWorld War II she was an engineer, a protected occupation which allowed her to look after her hospitalised mother. While a quality controller in an engine factory on theHarrow Road, a rail strike disrupted her travel from Herne Hill and she took up cycling, commuting through bomb-damaged streets. She joined the Apollo cycling club; other nearby clubs would not admit women.[2]
In 1946 Gray competed in a women's race atOrdrup,Copenhagen, Denmark, in Britain's first women's international team. In the Women's Cycle Racing Association, she promoted the cause of women's cycle racing.[2]
In 1976 Gray became president of the British Cycling Federation, (now known asBritish Cycling).
Gray was appointed aOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the1978 Birthday Honours for service to the British Cycling Federation,[3] and promoted toCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1997 Birthday Honours for services to sport.[4]
In 1991, aged 71, she was given a page in theGolden Book of Cycling, where she was described asa champion of women's racing and an administrator of vision and authority.[5]
In 2010 Gray became one of the initial inductees into theBritish Cycling Hall of Fame, cited as "founding the Women's Cycle Racing Association of which she became BCF President" and askey to women's racing becoming part of the Olympics from 1984.[6]
Gray was a torchbearer in Kingston for the 2012 London Olympics, on Tuesday 24 July .[7][8]
In 2005 the BBC reported that Gray was the head ofThe Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Masons,[9] one of two orders of women's Freemasons in the UK. In 2001, in a public message to the Women's Masonic Fraternity, she wrote that she had been a freemason for more than 50 years.[10]
Gray was a Conservative councillor between 1982 and 1998 inRoyal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and was mayor of the borough for a year from May 1990.[11][12]
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