Gray was born in 1787 at
Greenwich Hospital. She married in 1810 Francis Edward Gray, who died four years later, and had by him two daughters, who survived her. Both daughters, Emma Juliana Gray Smith and Sophia Elizabeth Gray Stokes, were also scientific illustrators. In 1826 she married his second cousin,
John Edward Gray. She greatly assisted her second husband in his scientific work, especially by her drawings. Between 1842 and 1874 she published privately five volumes of etchings, entitled
Figures of Molluscan Animals for the use of Students, and she mounted and arranged most of the
Cuming collection of shells in the
British Museum. She also made a study of
algae.
Joseph Dalton Hooker entrusted her with the responsibility of working on the collection of noted algae specialist
Amelia Griffiths' algae specimens. Gray selected appropriate type specimens from that collection and these were held at Kew's herbarium. Her own collection was bequeathed to the
Cambridge University Museum. Her assistance in this branch of her husband's studies was commemorated by him in 1866 in the algae genus
Grayemma. Similarly, he named two species of lizards in her honor:
Calotes maria and
Calotes emma. He also named the species
Scapha maria-emma, now known as
Cymbiola mariaemma, after her. He went on to have a bronze medallion struck in 1863, bearing both their portraits, a copy of which is in the possession of the
Linnean Society. Gray survived her husband by a year, dying on 9 December 1876.
Gallery File:Figures of molluscous animals, selected from various authors (1859) (14593061148).jpg|
Nudibranchs File:Figures of molluscous animals BHL11075359.jpg|
Molluscs File:Figures of molluscous animals BHL11075243.jpg|Unidentified File:Figures of molluscous animals, selected from various authors (1859) (14779983695).jpg|
Slugs ==References==