William Cray (1726-1778) was soldier, planter and politician from Onslow County. First a member of the North Carolina Colonial Assembly, Cray was also a colonel in the Onslow militia during the War of the Regulation. He later represented Onslow in the first two sittings of the provincial congress before taking a seat in the state senate in 1777. In April 1777 he was elected to the North Carolina Council of State, which advised the governor, and he ran the council as its president until his death a year later.