Rudy Narayan
Encyclopedia
Rudy Narayan was a former barrister
and civil rights
activist in Britain
.
Narayan was born in Guyana then British Guiana
and was the ninth of his parent's ten children.
He emigrated to Britain in 1953 and took several casual jobs before joining the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
. After 7 years ' service, and promotion to the rank of sergeant
, he left the British Army
in 1965 and decided to become a barrister
. He studied at Lincoln's Inn
, where he was a founder and first president of the bar students' union. He was called to the Bar in 1965.
He was a persuasive advocate
, specialising in trials arising from disputes between black people
and the police
, and enjoyed much success. Michael Mansfield
has written that Narayan "could have been the great black" barrister of his generation. However, finding his career did not develop as he had expected, Narayan became aware that clients who asked for him were being told by their solicitor
s that he was not available. He began to make loud and public complaints at the racism
he saw in the legal establishment. He was a founder of the Afro-Asian and Caribbean Lawyers Association with Sibghat Kadri in 1969, later renamed the Society of Black Lawyers.
After condemning solicitors, barristers, and judges in Birmingham
as racist, he faced his first disciplinary hearing in 1974, accused of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. He was reprimanded in 1980 for being discourteous to a judge, and then acquitted of professional misconduct in 1982, after claiming in a press statement that the Attorney General
and the Director of Public Prosecutions
were in "collusion with the national front
and fanning the flames of racial hatred" (although he was suspended for six weeks for other infractions). Nevertheless, complaints like his led to the creation of the Bar Council's race relations committee in 1984, and an amendment to the Race Relations Act
to prohibit race discrimination in the legal profession.
Narayan was elected as a Labour Party
councillor to Lambeth London Borough Council
in 1974, on which he served one term. He was selected as the Labour candidate for Birmingham Handsworth
, but his selection was overturned when it was alleged that he made anti-semitic
remarks in one of his books. The selection was re-run, and Clare Short
was selected in his place and won the successor seat of Birmingham Ladywood at the 1983 general election
. He was successful in defending his clients at trials arising out of the St Pauls riot
in Bristol
in 1980.
However, he started to drink heavily. He was expelled from his chambers in 1984 after assaulting Sibghat Kadri, by then his head of chambers, at a conference. He tried to requalify as a solicitor, but failed the Law Society
exams. He returned to the Bar, but was then disciplined for overbooking himself by accepting briefs for trials that were to run simultaneously and suspended for two years. He stood as a parliamentary candidate at the 1989 Vauxhall by-election
, protesting that a white Labour Party
candidate was standing in a largely black constituency, but he attracted only 177 votes and Labour's Kate Hoey
was elected.
He moved back to Guyana
in 1991, but met little success and returned to Britain in 1994. After further disciplinary hearings, he was disbarred in 1994 for professional misconduct. He was accused of stirring up violence after speaking outside Brixton
police station in 1995, following the death of Wayne Douglas, a homeless 26 year old black man, in police custody (later shown to have died due to a heart condition).
He published several works on legal themes: Black Community on Trial (1976), Black England (1977), Barrister for the Defence (1985), and When Judges Conspire (1989). He was the first chairman of Lambeth Law Centre. He also wrote an eight-part drama series, Black Silk, which was broadcast in 1985
He had married Naseem Akbar, a doctor, on 5 September 1969. They had two daughters, but were divorced. He remarried on 26 March 1988, to Saeeda Begum Shah, but they also divorced.
He died of liver cirrhosis at King's College Hospital
in Lambeth
London, survived by his three daughters.
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Narayan was born in Guyana then British Guiana
British Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
and was the ninth of his parent's ten children.
He emigrated to Britain in 1953 and took several casual jobs before joining the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was a corps of the British Army. It dealt only with the supply and maintenance of weaponry, munitions and other military equipment until 1965, when it took over most other supply functions, as well as the provision of staff clerks, from the Royal Army Service...
. After 7 years ' service, and promotion to the rank of sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
, he left the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in 1965 and decided to become a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
. He studied at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of 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. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, where he was a founder and first president of the bar students' union. He was called to the Bar in 1965.
He was a persuasive advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
, specialising in trials arising from disputes between black people
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
and the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, and enjoyed much success. Michael Mansfield
Michael Mansfield
Michael Mansfield QC is an English barrister. A republican, vegetarian, socialist, and self-described "radical lawyer", he has participated in prominent and controversial court cases and inquests involving accused IRA bombers, the Bloody Sunday incident, and the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes...
has written that Narayan "could have been the great black" barrister of his generation. However, finding his career did not develop as he had expected, Narayan became aware that clients who asked for him were being told by their solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
s that he was not available. He began to make loud and public complaints at the racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
he saw in the legal establishment. He was a founder of the Afro-Asian and Caribbean Lawyers Association with Sibghat Kadri in 1969, later renamed the Society of Black Lawyers.
After condemning solicitors, barristers, and judges in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
as racist, he faced his first disciplinary hearing in 1974, accused of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. He was reprimanded in 1980 for being discourteous to a judge, and then acquitted of professional misconduct in 1982, after claiming in a press statement that the Attorney General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
and the Director of Public Prosecutions
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
were in "collusion with the national front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
and fanning the flames of racial hatred" (although he was suspended for six weeks for other infractions). Nevertheless, complaints like his led to the creation of the Bar Council's race relations committee in 1984, and an amendment to the Race Relations Act
Race Relations Act
The Race Relations Acts are a series of statutes by the United Kingdom parliament to address racial discrimination.They are:* The Race Relations Act 1965* The Race Relations Act 1968* The Race Relations Act 1976* The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000...
to prohibit race discrimination in the legal profession.
Narayan was elected as a Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillor to Lambeth London Borough Council
Lambeth London Borough Council
Lambeth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London...
in 1974, on which he served one term. He was selected as the Labour candidate for Birmingham Handsworth
Birmingham Handsworth (UK Parliament constituency)
Birmingham Handsworth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Handsworth district of Birmingham. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, but his selection was overturned when it was alleged that he made anti-semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
remarks in one of his books. The selection was re-run, and Clare Short
Clare Short
Clare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010; for most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent. She...
was selected in his place and won the successor seat of Birmingham Ladywood at the 1983 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
. He was successful in defending his clients at trials arising out of the St Pauls riot
St Pauls riot
The St Pauls riot occurred in St Pauls, Bristol, England on 2 April 1980 when police raided the Black and White Café on Grosvenor Road in the heart of the area. After several hours of disturbance in which fire engines and police cars were damaged, 130 people were arrested...
in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in 1980.
However, he started to drink heavily. He was expelled from his chambers in 1984 after assaulting Sibghat Kadri, by then his head of chambers, at a conference. He tried to requalify as a solicitor, but failed the Law Society
Law society
A Law Society in current and former Commonwealth jurisdictions was historically an association of solicitors with a regulatory role that included the right to supervise the training, qualifications and conduct of lawyers/solicitors...
exams. He returned to the Bar, but was then disciplined for overbooking himself by accepting briefs for trials that were to run simultaneously and suspended for two years. He stood as a parliamentary candidate at the 1989 Vauxhall by-election
Vauxhall by-election, 1989
A by-election for the United Kingdom House of Commons was held in the constituency of Vauxhall on the 15th June 1989, following the resignation of sitting Member of Parliament Stuart Holland....
, protesting that a white Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate was standing in a largely black constituency, but he attracted only 177 votes and Labour's Kate Hoey
Kate Hoey
Catharine Letitia Hoey is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Vauxhall since 1989. She served in the Blair Government as Minister for Sport from 1999 to 2001.-Background:...
was elected.
He moved back to Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
in 1991, but met little success and returned to Britain in 1994. After further disciplinary hearings, he was disbarred in 1994 for professional misconduct. He was accused of stirring up violence after speaking outside Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
police station in 1995, following the death of Wayne Douglas, a homeless 26 year old black man, in police custody (later shown to have died due to a heart condition).
He published several works on legal themes: Black Community on Trial (1976), Black England (1977), Barrister for the Defence (1985), and When Judges Conspire (1989). He was the first chairman of Lambeth Law Centre. He also wrote an eight-part drama series, Black Silk, which was broadcast in 1985
He had married Naseem Akbar, a doctor, on 5 September 1969. They had two daughters, but were divorced. He remarried on 26 March 1988, to Saeeda Begum Shah, but they also divorced.
He died of liver cirrhosis at King's College Hospital
King's College Hospital
King's College Hospital is an acute care facility in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH"...
in Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
London, survived by his three daughters.