Sir Peter Richard Pain (6 September 1913 – 16 January 2003) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

High Court judge, who for many years specialised in labour law. Born in

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, Pain's father was a solicitor. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, then became a barrister at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

. In the early 1930s, he visited a

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

camp, and the experience convinced him that war was inevitable, and that he should oppose it by becoming a socialist. He joined the Labour Party, for which he stood unsuccessfully in the

1937 Farnham by-election The 1937 Farnham by-election was held on 23 March 1937. The by-election was held due to the elevation to the peerage of the incumbent Conservative MP, Arthur Samuel. It was won by the Conservative candidate Godfrey Nicholson. Peter Pain, a r ...

. Pain was rejected for military service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

due to his health, so he joined the

Auxiliary Fire Service The Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) was first formed in 1938 in Great Britain as part of the Civil Defence Service. Its role was to supplement the work of brigades at local level. The Auxiliary Fire Service and the local brigades were superseded i ...

. He worked with John Horner for the right of auxiliary fire crew to join the

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded inst ...

. After the war, Pain initially worked for Walter Raeburn, then built up a practice with

Morris Finer Sir Morris Finer QC (12 December 1917 – 14 December 1974) was a British lawyer and judge. Early life Finer was born in Bethnal Green in London, the son of Charles Finer, a master tailor, and his wife Ray, née Topper. He was educated at K ...

and other colleagues, in later years become its head of chambers. He initially focusing on personal injury claims. and his expertise in the field was often called on by trade unions. In 1965, he was made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

, and in 1972 he was made a Bencher at Lincoln's Inn. He became a leader in the developing field of labour law, taking many cases at the

National Industrial Relations Court {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC) was established on 1 December 1971 under Section 99 of the Industrial Relations Act 1971. The NIRC was created by the Conservative government of Ted Heath as a way to l ...

. When this closed, in 1975, he was appointed as a judge at the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

. Pain was strongly opposed to racism, and following

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...

Rivers of Blood The "Rivers of Blood" speech was made by British Member of Parliament (MP) Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968, to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especi ...

speech, he volunteered as the chair of the Race Relations Board Conciliation Committee, serving from 1968 until 1971. He then became chair of the South Metropolitan Conciliation Committee. He also served on the

Parole Board A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdiction ...

from 1978 to 1980. In 1988, Pain was given his own court, with responsibility for adjudicating on pre-trial procedures such as

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

s. He retired in 1993, the last British judge to work regularly past the age of 80.

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pain, Peter 1913 births 2003 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Trade unionists from Wiltshire Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People educated at Westminster School, London People from Marlborough, Wiltshire Queen's Bench Division judges Civil Defence Service personnel