Anthony Maurice Gifford, 6th Baron Gifford, KC (born 1 May 1940), is a British
hereditary peer
The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...
and senior
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
. He inherited the title of
Baron Gifford
Baron Gifford, of St Leonard's in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 January 1824 for the lawyer Sir Robert Gifford, who later served as Master of the Rolls. His grandson, the third Baron ...
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...
and
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
, was called to the Bar in 1962 and
took silk
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...
in 1983.GIFFORD, Lord Anthony Maurice QC Havers.
He was a co-founder of the North Kensington Neighbourhood Law Centre, Britain's first law centre. He founded Wellington Street Chambers and was its head for 15 years. He joined 8 King's Bench Walk in 1989 and has been head of Chambers since 2001. In 2006 his chambers relocated to 1 Mitre Court Buildings.
He was Counsel for Paul Hill in the
Guildford Four
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildfo ...
appeals and for Gerry Hunter in the
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Cou ...
appeals.
He was chairman of the
Broadwater Farm
Broadwater Farm, often referred to simply as "The Farm", is an area in Tottenham, North London, straddling the River Moselle (London), River Moselle. The eastern half of the area is dominated by the Broadwater Farm Housing estate, Estate ("BWFE") ...
inquiry and the Liverpool Eight inquiry, both of which investigated patterns of alleged racism and discrimination. He represented the family of James Wray at the
Bloody Sunday Inquiry
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry, also known as the Saville Inquiry or the Saville Report after its chairman, Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after campaigns for a second inquiry by families of t ...
.
Cases in which he has been engaged include appeals involving trade unions, libel, contract and tort as well as criminal law. In 1991, he set up a firm of attorneys in
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
, where he practises in civil and criminal law. He divides his practice between Jamaica and the UK.
He was a prominent member of the anti-apartheid group Lawyers Against Apartheid.
Lord Gifford sat on the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
benches while in the House of Lords. The passing of the
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...
removed his automatic right to sit in parliament, and he was excluded on 11 November 1999.
Reparations campaign
Gifford has campaigned in favour of
reparations for slavery
Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take numer ...
. He is a member of the Jamaican reparations commission and has said of the reparations issue: "I would like to see it approached on a Caribbean-wide basis."
Family life
Lord Gifford married first on 22 March 1965 Katherine Ann Mundy, daughter of Dr Max Mundy of 75
Bedford Gardens, London
Bedford Gardens is a street in Kensington, London. It runs west–east from Campden Hill Road to Kensington Church Street.
The street was originally called Bedford Place. In 1824, William Hall the elder and William Hall the younger planned to b ...
.
They divorced in 1988 and had two children:
*The Hon. Thomas Adam Gifford (born 1 December 1967)
*The Hon. Polly Ann Gifford (born 31 March 1969)
Lord Gifford married secondly on 24 September 1988 Elean Roslyn Thomas, daughter of Right Reverend Bishop David Thomas of Kingston, Jamaica. They divorced and had one daughter:
*The Hon. Sheba Chanel Gifford (born 1992)
Lord Gifford married Tina Natalia Goulbourne, daughter of Clement Nathaniel Goulbourne, on 11 April 1998.
Publications
*(with John Davies and Tony Richards) ''Political Policing in Wales''; 1984 (
Welsh Campaign for Civil & Political Liberties
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
);
*''Where's the justice? A Manifesto of Law Reform''; 1985 (
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Supergrasses in Northern Ireland''; 1985 (Liberty);
*''Report of the Broadwater Farm Inquiry''; 1986 (
Karia Press
Norris Chrisleventon "Buzz" Johnson (2 November 1951 – 11 February 2014), generally known as Buzz Johnson, was a Tobago-born publisher and activist who in the 1970s relocated to England, UK. There he set up a small publishing company called Kar ...
);
*''Loosen the Shackles: The report of the Liverpool 8 Inquiry''; 1989 (Karia Press);
*''The Passionate Advocate''; 2007 (Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing); ''The Passionate Advocate'' Wildy & Sons Ltd.