Cyril Radcliffe
|
|
Viscount Cyril John Radcliffe KBE GBE PC (1899 - 1977) was a British lawyer and law lord most famous for his partitioning of the British Imperial territory of India.
Radcliffe was born in Llanychan, Denbighshire. He was conscripted in World War I but his poor eyesight limited the options for service so he was allocated to in the Labour Corps. He attended Oxford University and was called to the bar in 1924; the meteoric legal rise that followed was interrupted by World War II.
Radcliffe joined the Ministry of Information becoming its Director-General by 1941, where he worked closely with the Minister Brendan Bracken. After the war he resumed legal practice but this was again interrupted in 1947 when he was given the chairmanship of the two boundary comittees set up with the passing of the Indian Independence Act: his sole Indian connection was the death of his eldest brother while on active service in the country. With little information to go on and with little detailed knowledge of the country, Radcliffe was forced to do as best he could. The Radcliffe Award was carried out in the greatest secrecy but there was still pressure to adjust the line between the two emergent nations of India and Pakistan for political reasons. The immediate consequences of partition were horrendous for both countries though it is doubtful that anything Radcliffe could have done would have made a great difference; even the most carefully crafted border would have provoked the massive population migrations which resulted. Radcliffe was at all turns harassed and hurried by outgoing Viceroy Mountbatten, who turned out to be ill prepared for the consequences of the Awards.
Radcliffe was made a law lord in 1949, the first man in over half a century to become one without first being a judge. In the 1950's he chaired a string of public enquiries in addition to his legal duties and continued to hold numerous trusteeships, governorships and chairmanships right up until his death. He was also a frequent public speaker and wrote numerous books.
He was made KBE in 1944, GBE in 1948, became member of the privy council in 1949 and gained a Viscountcy in 1962.