Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe

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Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe GBE PC QC (born March 30, 1899 in Llanychan, Denbighshire , † April 2, 1977 ) was a British lawyer and publicist . He was best known for the Radcliffe Line he created , which established the borders between India and Pakistan after the end of British colonial rule in India .

Life and career until 1947

Cyril Radcliffe was drafted into the army during World War I but was not used in a combat unit due to poor eyesight.

After the end of his military service, he attended Oxford University . In 1924 he was admitted to the bar. During World War II , Radcliffe served in the Ministry of Information , a propaganda agency designed to aid Britain's war effort and promote the morale of both the fighting force and the civilian population .

In 1941, Radcliffe was appointed director general of the Ministry of Information, a position in which he worked closely with Minister of Information Brendan Bracken . On January 1, 1944, he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He belonged to the knighthood and was allowed to use the suffix "Sir".

Activity in India 1947

The Radcliffe Line

After the end of the war, Radcliffe returned to the legal profession, but was appointed a little later (1946) as chairman of a government commission which, according to the Indian Independence Act of 1947 , was to define the geographical dividing line between the Dominions of Pakistan and India.

Due to the explosive nature of his work, Radcliffe created this line in an isolated manner and under strict security conditions, but kept in touch with Louis Mountbatten , the viceroy at the time , and his closest staff.

Although Radcliffe's demarcation was to be catastrophic for both states, it is doubtful whether, given the starting position Radcliffe found, any other solution than the one he preferred would have made any significant difference, especially since Radcliffe had to work under enormous time pressure.

Nonetheless, the fact remains that the division of British India along the Radcliffe Line resulted in the deaths of approximately one million people and the displacement and resettlement of approximately another 20 million people - Hindus , Muslims and Sikhs . The division thus triggered one of the greatest catastrophes in modern history. Serious criticism was later leveled mainly at the fact that the exact demarcation was only announced on the day of Pakistan's independence or one day before India's independence. Previously, there had been a lot of speculation and uncertainty about the future demarcation. For example, many had assumed that Lahore , the capital of Punjab near the later border, would come to India, but this did not happen. This non-information policy was largely due to Lord Mountbatten and not to Radcliffe himself. The population thus had no way of preparing and planning their orderly departure or resettlement, and after the demarcation of the border became known, there was a precipitous mass exodus of hundreds of thousands, who found that they were living “on the wrong side” of the new border.

After Radcliffe realized the disastrous effects his work had had, tension arose between him and Mountbatten.

Radcliffe declined the fee he would have been entitled to for his work on the border between India and Pakistan .

Life and career 1947 to 1977

After finishing his work in India, Radcliffe returned to the UK, where he continued his successful legal career, played an important role in reforming the UK tax system, presided over numerous committees of inquiry and wrote books.

On January 1, 1948, he became Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE). On June 1, 1949, he was promoted to Life Peer as Baron Radcliffe , of Werneth in the County of Lancaster, and thereby received a seat in the House of Lords for life . On July 11, 1962 he was also given the hereditary title Viscount Radcliffe , of Hampton Lucy in the County of Warwick. In 1968 he was elected a member of the British Academy . Since he did not leave any sons, the Viscountcy expired on his death in 1977.

See also

literature

  • WH Auden : Partition. Collected Poems, 1976, p. 604, (poem "A poem on the man who drew the lines" from May 1966)
  • Cyril Lord Radcliffe , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 31/1963 of July 22, 1963, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of the article freely available)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Patrick French: Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division . Harper Collins (1997), 321
  2. ^ A b c Peter Lyon Conflict Between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia . ABC-Clio Inc, 2008 page 135
  3. ↑ a b Knights and Dames: OT-RAY at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
  4. ^ Patrick French: Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division . Harper Collins (1997), 323
  5. ^ Collins, Larry and Dominique Lapierre: Gandhi. Freedom at midnight 1975. ISBN 978-3-442-06759-6 , page 229
  6. ^ Patrick French: Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division . Harper Collins, 1997, pp. 329-330
  7. ^ Patrick French: Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division . Harper Collins (1997), 330
  8. ^ The London Gazette : No. 38627, p. 2748 , June 3, 1949.
  9. ^ The London Gazette: 42729, 5563 , July 13, 1962.
  10. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed July 21, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Radcliffe, Cyril, 1st Viscount Radcliffe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Radcliffe, Cyril John, 1st Viscount Radcliffe (full name); Radcliffe, Sir Cyril
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British lawyer and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Llanychan, Denbighshire
DATE OF DEATH April 2nd 1977