David Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead

David Thomas Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead (* 3. October 1913 in Saint David , Grenada , † 18 December 1994 in London ) was a native of Grenada British doctor and politician of the Labor Party , which in campaigns against racial discrimination and against homelessness and in 1975 when Life Peer became a member of the House of Lords under the Life Peerages Act 1958 .

Life

Degree and general practitioner

After attending school, Pitt began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh with the support of a scholarship , from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine (MB). He finished another postgraduate study in surgery in 1938 with a Bachelor of Surgery (Ch.B.) and then settled as a general practitioner in San Fernando from 1941 to 1947 . During this time he began his political engagement and served between 1943 and 1947 as President of the West Indian National Party in Trinidad and Tobago .

In 1947 Pitt emigrated to Great Britain and established himself as a general practitioner in London, where he ran his own practice from 1947 until his death in 1994.

Unsuccessful lower house candidacy in 1959 and commitment to local politics

For many Labor members, Pitt surprisingly became the party's candidate in the general election on October 8, 1959 in the Hampstead constituency . However, he was clearly defeated by the constituency holder of the Conservative Party and then Minister for Housing and Local Government in the government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan , Henry Brooke . While Brooke got 25,506 votes (53.4%), Pitt only got 13,500 votes (28.3%).

In 1961 he became a member of the London County Council (LCC), where he represented the interests of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney until 1965 . After founding the Greater London Council (GLC), he was its member from 1965 to 1977 as a representative of the London Borough of Hackney .

Commitment against racial discrimination

During this time founded Pitt, 1966, Justice of the Peace ( Justice of the Peace ), was founded in 1965, the campaign against racial discrimination CARD ( Campaign Against Racial Discrimination ). The founding of this organization made him appear in the eyes of some as a revolutionary of the American civil rights movement Black Power . As a representative of CARD, he demanded that more people of color join the police, but this also led to criticism from numerous younger colored people because of their racist and frightening experiences with the police. Pitt argued, however, that one of the ways to change institutions would be to enter those institutions, which he found necessary especially with the police.

During this time he was also one of the participants in the Easter marches organized by the peace movement Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and also spoke out against apartheid in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia as part of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) and the successor organization, and helped to justify this the words:

“You can't campaign against injustice here and ignore what is happening elsewhere. It is all part and parcel of the same struggle. "

“You cannot campaign against the injustice here and ignore what is happening elsewhere. It's all part and parcel of the same fight. "

Between 1968 and 1977 he was vice chairman of the Community Relations Commission , a commission set up by the Race Relations Act 1968 to improve relations in the neighborhoods, and was last chairman in 1977. He had previously campaigned for this law, which forbade denial of housing, workplaces or public services on the basis of skin color, race, ethnicity or nationality. On the other hand, he spoke out against the law also envisaged by the Labor government under Harold Wilson in 1968, which was intended to restrict civil rights and the entry of British people from East Africa and Asia, with the words:

“You can't hold these two views at the same time. If we believe in outlawing racial discrimination at home we can't do it by saying 'Keep them out'. "

“You can't hold these views at the same time. If we believe in outlawing racial discrimination here, we cannot do it by saying 'keep it out'. "

Unsuccessful candidate for the lower house in 1970, member of the lower house and the fight against homelessness

In the elections on June 18, 1970 , Pitt ran again for a seat in the lower house, this time in the constituency of Clapham . However, he was also defeated there by the opposing candidate of the Conservative Tories , Bill Shelton , although the constituency was previously represented by Labor politician Margaret McKay . If Shelton had won the election, Pitt would have become the first black MP.

Pitt was raised to the nobility due to his many years of service through a letters patent dated February 3, 1975 as a life peer with the title Baron Pitt of Hampstead , of Hampstead in Greater London and of Grenada, and belonged to the House of Lords as a until his death Member at. He gave his maiden speech ( Maiden Speech ) on May 12, 1975 to promote cigarette sales.

In 1976 he was awarded the Trinity Cross , the highest distinction in Trinidad and Tobago at the time.

In 1979 he became chairman of the Shelter charity , founded in 1966 , an organization to combat homelessness, and held this position until 1990. He was then vice-president of Shelter between 1990 and 1994. He was also president of the British Medical Association (BMA) from 1985 to 1986 .

Web links

• David Pitt at Hansard (English)
• Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• David Thomas Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead, on thepeerage.com , accessed September 12, 2016.
• Entry in 100 Great Black Britons
• Obituary: Lord Pitt of Hampstead . In: The Independent of December 20, 1994

Individual evidence

1. ↑ UK Negro Threatened . In: The Montreal Gazette of September 22, 1959
2. ^ Tories Making a Stunning Comeback in British Vote . In: The Lewiston Daily Sun, June 19, 1970
3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 46485, HMSO, London, February 6, 1975, p. 1661 ( PDF , accessed November 9, 2013, English).
4. ↑ Entry in Hansard (May 12, 1975)