Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner

Gerald Austin Gardiner, Baron Gardiner, CH, QC, PC (30 May 1900 - 7 January 1990), was Lord Chancellor from 1964 to 1970 and during that time he introduced into British law as many reforms as any Lord Chancellor had done before or since. In that position he embarked on a great program of reform, most importantly setting up the Law Commission in 1965 ODNB article by Norman S. Marsh, ‘Gardiner, Gerald Austin, Baron Gardiner (1900–1990)’, rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/40090 ODNB Online] , accessed 27 March 2008.] .

Parents and education

His father was Sir Robert Septimus Gardiner (died 16 November 1939) ["The Times", Saturday, Nov 18, 1939; pg. 1; Issue 48466; col A: Death notices] and his mother was Alice von Ziegesar (died 31 January 1953 ["The Times", Thursday, Feb 05, 1953; pg. 8; Issue 52538; col E: Death Notice of Lady Gardiner. ] ), daughter of Count von Ziegesar and granddaughter of Dionysius Lardner [The Times, Monday, Nov 20, 1939; pg. 8; Issue 48467; col D "Sir Robert Gardiner" Obituary. [http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/CB-Lardn.HTM Dionysus Lardner archive with marriage certificate of Susan Lardner and Baron von Ziegesar] ] .

Gerald Gardiner attended Harrow School. When his father visited him at Harrow he noticed a copy of "the Nation", later incorporated into the "New Statesman", lying around and yelled that no other son of his would attend a school where such publications were openly displayed. He was as good as his word, and Gerald's two brothers were sent to Eton Fact|date=March 2008.

When Gerald was at Magdalen College, Oxford in the 1920s, he published a pamphlet on pink paper which resulted in his being sent down. A woman undergraduate had suffered the same fate a few days previously for climbing into a men's college after a dance. Gardiner, characteristically, rushed to her defence and the Vice-Chancellor, Farnell, notoriously out of touch with the post-war generation, asked Gardiner to leave at the intolerable hour of six in the morning; any later hour, Farnell knew, would have meant a sympathetic funeral procession several hundred strong. The girl to whose defence Gardiner had so gallantly flown was later a film critic, Dilys Powell Fact|date=March 2008.

While occupying the position of Chancellor of the Open University, he took a degree in the Social Sciences, at the age of 76.cite news|title=Open university chancellor and window cleaner among 5,800 latest graduates |publisher="The Times"|date=January 28, 1977]

Pacifism

Gerald Gardiner served in the Coldstream Guards in 1918, but in the 1930s he joined the Peace Pledge Union. During World War II Gardiner volunteered to join the Friends' Ambulance Unit, as an alternative to military service, although he was actually just over conscription age, and served 1943 to 1945.

Legal career

As a lawyer, he fought for the abolition of capital punishment. He was the Counsel for the Defence in the trial for obscenity of the publishers of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in 1960.

He was called to the Bar in 1925 and was made King's Counsel in 1948.

Lord Gardiner played an active role in various reform movements and held numerous professional positions. He was a member of the Committee on Supreme Court Practice and Procedure, 1947-53 chaired by Raymond Evershed, 1st Baron Evershed. [ Lord Evershed's ODNB biography says: "The committee spent six years examining the rules which had mainly been introduced in 1875 to govern the newly created, single Supreme Court. By the middle of the twentieth century this code had distinctly aged and become an ill-assorted patchwork. Following three interim reports the committee reported finally in 1953 with more than 200 recommendations. " -ODNB article by Nicholls of Birkenhead, ‘Evershed, (Francis) Raymond, Baron Evershed (1899–1966)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33051 online edn, Jan 2008] , accessed 27 March 2008.] , He was a member of the Lord Chancellor's Law Reform Committee, 1952-63.

He was a Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple in 1955, Chairman of the General Council of the Bar in 1958 and 1959 [ [http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/ Bar Council website] (Accessed 27 March 2008).] . He was a member of the International Commission of Jurists in 1971. He was Joint Chairman of the National Campaign for Abolition of Capital Punishment.

Role as Lord Chancellor

Gerald Gardiner stood for election as the Labour Party's candidate in the 1951 General Election in Croydon West. He lost to the Conservative, Richard Thompson.

Gardiner was made a life peer as Baron Gardiner, of Kittisford in the County of Somerset in 1963. On the Labour Party's General Election victory in 1964, he was appointed Lord Chancellor and to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1964 by Harold Wilson. In 1970, the Labour Party was defeated in the General Election and Lord Gardiner resigned as Lord Chancellor.

In that role, he was responsible for the creation of the Ombudsman. He also did much to advance women's rights.

ecurity surveillance

Perhaps unsurprisingly, taking into account his progressive views and determination that human and civil rights should be respected and advanced, Lord Gardiner was subjected to surveillance by British security. During debates on the "British Telecommunications Bill" [Enacted as the "British Telecommunications Act 1981 c. 38" ] in the House of Lords in 1981, various members raised concerns about telephone tapping, a matter of disquiet in the community and amongst these members. In his contribution, Lord Gardiner told of the difficulties he experienced as Lord Chancellor (1964-1970) in being able to conduct strictly private discussions with the then Attorney-General. Lord Gardiner said he believed his telephone calls were intercepted by a British intelligence organisation. He also alluded to a need to take a ride around the park in his chauffeur-driven car with the Attorney-General in order to ensure security of their conversations - rather than having 'security' listen in ["The Times", Wednesday, May 20, 1981; pg. 5; Issue 60932; col G "House Of Lords Lord Gardiner thought his phone was bugged." ]

After Lord Chancellorship

Northern Ireland Interrogation methods Minority Report

Lord Gardiner published the "Minority Report" in March 1972 as part of the Parker Report ("Report of the Committee of Privy Counsellors appointed to consider authorised procedures for the interrogation of persons suspected of terrorism") [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/parker.htm Parker Report online source.] ] , which considered the interrogation procedures used against suspects of terrorism in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to allegations of torture during internment in 1971 (See Sensory deprivation, Uses of torture in recent times#United_Kingdom, Five techniques).

Open University

He was Chancellor of the Open University from 1973 to 1978.

Personal life

In 1925 he married Lesly Trounson (died 1966). They had one daughter.

In 1970, Gardiner married Muriel Box, writer, producer and director who had won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "The Seventh Veil". She published his biography in 1983. ["Rebel advocate: a biography of Gerald Gardiner" by Muriel Box, Gollancz (1983) ISBN 0575032693]

He died 7 January 1990, aged 89.

Publications

*"Capital Punishment as a Deterrent: and the alternative", London, Victor Gollancz (1956).

*"Law Reform Now" (Edited with Andrew Martin), London, Victor Gollancz (1963).

*Justice (INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS) "Living it down. The problem of old convictions. The report of a Committee set up by Justice, The Howard League for Penal Reform, The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders". Chairman of Committee, the Rt. Hon. Lord Gardiner. London: Stevens & Sons, 1972. ISBN 0420439102

*UK Government, Northern Ireland Office. "Report of a Committee to consider, in the context of civil liberties and human rights, measures to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland, etc." (1975) (Parliamentary papers. Cmnd. 5847) ISBN 0101584709, Chair: Lord Gardiner.

Archives

His papers (1922 - 1988) are held by the Churchill Archive Centre in Cambridge [ [http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FGARD Archives of Gerald Gardiner at Churchill College] ] . Papers relating to the abolition of Capital Punishment are at the British Library [Campaign for the abolition of capital punishment 1964-70, Reference : Add MSS 56455-63.]

References