The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former
Southern League club
Grays United to form Grays Athletic. The newly formed club joined the Grays & District League, later joining Division Two B of the
South Essex League in 1908. It was runner-up in its first season in the division and won it in its second season, earning promotion to Division One for the 1909–10 season. The club was a founder member of the
Athenian League in 1912, but that league closed down in 1914 due to the
First World War, and Grays transferred to the Premier Division (Amateur) of the
London League. They won the division in their first season, with the reserves also winning Division One. they returned to the London League in 1926. The return was a success as the club were Premier Division champions in 1926–27 and runners-up in the next two seasons, before winning the title again in 1929–30. After finishing as runners-up in 1930–31, the club spent most of the 1930s in mid-table, After the
Second World War, Grays was a founder member of the
Corinthian League, and was that league's inaugural champion and League Cup winner in 1945–46. They were league runners-up in 1951–52, and the
following season saw them qualify for the first round of the
FA Cup for the first time, losing 5–0 at home to
Llanelli. They also reached the second round of the
FA Cup, beating
York City 3–0 at
Bootham Crescent before losing 3–0 at
Mansfield Town, as well as retaining the FA Trophy with a 2–0 win over
Woking in the final. They went on to finish bottom of the Premier Division in the
2016–17 and were relegated back to the (renamed) North Division. In
2022–23 the club finished fifth in the North Division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which they lost 3–2 to
AFC Sudbury in the semi-finals.
Season-by-season ==Ground==