1901 Saffron Walden by-election in 1900 he had brought it down to just 110. He had continued working locally to try and eliminate it altogether and must have had high hopes of victory at the by-election. Saffron Walden had at this time a reputation as a town with strong Quaker influences and a prominent member of the Society of Friends, E B Gibson, was one of Gray’s nominators. Saffron Walden constituency at this time was a large rural entity, stretching across north Essex from Hertfordshire to Suffolk with the town itself the only real centre of population, the rest of the division being made
Trade and use of saffron flourished in European locations extending from Asia Minor, where it originated, to Saffron Walden in England, where it was naturalised. Only subsequently, when its labour-intensive cultivation became largely centred in Kashmir, did it seem sufficiently exotic to qualify as one of the most precious of spices."Saffron crocus cultivation has long centered on a broad belt of Eurasia bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the southwest to India and China in the northeast. The major producers of antiquity—Iran, Spain, India, and Greece—continue to dominate the world trade. The cultivation of saffron in the Americas was begun by members of the Schwenkfelder