Born George Holman in Kent, England, in 1869, Ray worked as an accountant in London and Africa and served in the Royal Navy before immigrating to Canada. In 1901, he joined the Hudson's Bay Company, working as a post manager in various remote locations across northern Manitoba, including Churchill, York Factory, and Norway House. His deep familiarity with the Canadian North and the fur trade heavily influenced his later literary endeavors.
Ray briefly entered politics, winning a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 1914 as a Conservative representative for Churchill and Nelson. He served as a backbencher but did not seek re-election after the government resigned due to a corruption scandal in 1915. Alongside his administrative and political duties, Ray pursued writing. He published the play Just Craft and Skill in 1911 and the novel Kasba in 1915, drawing on his experiences in the Canadian wilderness.
After his political stint, Ray rejoined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1920, serving as an inspector and later as the manager for the James Bay district until his retirement in 1927. During this period, his novel The Land Of Silence: A Novel Of The Great Northland was serialized in the company's publication, The Beaver, between 1921 and 1923. Ray passed away from pneumonia in Edmonton in 1935.
