Learie Constantine, Baron Constantine

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Learie Constantine
Learie Constantine 1930 04.jpg
Learie Constantine (1930)
Player information
Surname Learie Constantine
Born September 21, 1901
Diego Martin , Trinidad
Died July 1, 1971, aged 69,
London , United Kingdom
Batting style Right-handed batsman
Player role All-rounder
International games
National team West Indies cricket team West Indies
Test debut (cap 3) 23rd June 1928 v England
Last test 22nd August 1939 v England
Career statistics
Game form Testing First class
Games 18th 119
Runs (total) 635 4475
Batting average 19.24 24.05
100s / 50s 1/7 5/28
Highscore 90 133
Balls 3583 17458
Wickets 58 439
Bowling Average 10/30 20.48
5 wickets in innings 2 25th
10 wickets in play 0 4th
Best bowling performance 5/75 8/38
Catches / stumpings 28/0 133/0
Source: Cricinfo , April 18, 2011

Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine ( TC ; born September 21, 1901 in Petit Valley , Trinidad , † July 1, 1971 in Brondesbury , London ) was a cricketer , lawyer and politician from the British West Indies . He was the first black Life Peer of the United Kingdom . In 2011, a collection of documents from both his public and private life was inscribed on UNESCO 's World Document Heritage List .

Life

Early years

Learie Constantine was born the second child in the family and the oldest of three brothers. His father Lebrun Constantine was a grandson of slaves and rose to be the overseer of a cocoa plantation in Cascade near Maraval . Even the father was known on the island as a first-class cricketer who had traveled to England twice with a West Indian team. He named his son Learie after an Irishman he made friends on a trip to England in 1900. Learie Constantine's mother was called Anaise Pascall, she was the daughter of slaves, and her brother Victor was also a well-known cricketer, as was Learie's brother, Elias, who later played in the Trinidad team.

Constantine attended St Ann's Government School in Port of Spain, then St Ann's Roman Catholic School until 1917 . At school he played for the cricket team, of which he was the captain for the last two years of school. Until he was 19 years old, his father forbade him to play for a competition team, because he should first gain a foothold professionally. After graduating from school, Learie Constantine therefore took a job as a clerk in a law firm with little prospect of advancing as a black man.

Athletic career

From 1920 Learie Constantine played for the Shannon Cricket Club . At first he played in the second team, but after scoring 50 points ( runs ) in an hour in the third game , he got into the first team. Cricket in Trinidad at that time was strictly divided according to skin color and social class; so the Shannon Cricket Club was the club for blacks of the lower middle class. The players were highly motivated, also in response to the racial discrimination that the players and their supporters were exposed to on a daily basis. During this time, Constantine realized that white or light-skinned players were often preferred to better black players.

In 1921 Lebrun Constantine withdrew from the selection of Trinidad in the hope that his son could take his place. Team Captain Bertie Harrigan, a white man, recognized Learie Constantine's talent and nominated him for selection. In September 1921 he made his successful debut in a game against Barbados at the Inter-Colonial Tournament . The following year he also played for Trinidad in this tournament. In the second game of the tournament, Lebrun Constantine also joined the team, one of the few times where father and son played together in a first-class game. Trinidad lost in the final against Barbados, but the captain of the West Indian cricket team Harold Austin, who was also the captain of the Barbados team, noticed Constantine and nominated him for a tour of the team to England in 1923. When Constantine had problems with his employer because of his time consuming workouts, he quit.

On the tour through England, the West Indian team played 21 high-quality ( first-class ) games, in which Learie Constantine made a strong impression. Various English players such as Jack Hobbs and Pelham Warner, as well as the press, highlighted Constantine's qualities as a fielder , although he has an unorthodox style of play. It was on this trip that Constantine realized that cricket was an opportunity for him to advance socially.

After his return to Trinidad, Constantine was unemployed and had to stay afloat with various jobs until he got a job with Trinidad Leaseholds . But his goal was to become a professional cricketer in England and he trained for it whenever he could. In 1927 he married his wife Norma. The couple had a daughter. In 1928 he was nominated for the tour to England, which included the first three tests for the West Indies, and came closer to his goal of becoming a professional player in England.

Constantine finished this tour as the most successful non-English player. His style of play, his joy in fighting and his entertainment value made a great impression on the audience. As a result, the Nelson Cricket Club of the Lancashire Cricket League offered him a professional contract. Learie Constantine played for this club until 1937, an unusually long period in cricket. He made £ 500  per season plus success bonuses and travel expenses. In the nine seasons that Constantine played for Nelson, the club won the league seven times and the cup twice. He was never positioned worse than second. In addition, Constantine continued to play for the West Indian selection in England and Australia. In 1934 he worked in India as a coach and played two games at the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament . In 1939 he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year .

In the 1938 season Learie Constantine played for the Rochdale Cricket Club in the Central Lancashire Cricket League , but stayed in Nelson. He earned £ 812 in that successful season, but had to live with the envy of some players for his high income. There was also a racist incident that was swept under the carpet by the league committee. Subsequently, Constantine ended his professional career for the time being, but played as an amateur for the Nelson Club during World War II .

Living in England

While Learie Constantine lived in Nelson, he was extremely popular there and remained a "local hero" even after he moved there in 1949. At that time, Nelson had few dark-skinned residents, and Constantine initially received racist letters. He then wanted to return to Trinidad, but his wife persuaded him to stay in England. Eventually a circle of friends developed in the new area, and the family only went to Trinidad in winter to visit.

From 1932 Constantine was involved in the independence movement of Trinidad and became a member of the League of Colored Peoples , an organization that fought for equality for blacks in Great Britain. He helped his politically active compatriot CLR James get a job at the Manchester Guardian ; In return, James helped him write his first book, Cricket and I, published in 1933 , which had a major impact on West Indian nationalism.

During the Second World War Constantine stayed in Nelson, engaged in air raid protection and evacuation, and was eventually employed in the Ministry of Labor and National Service . He stood up for the many West Indians who worked in factories during the war in the north-west of England and supported them in the fight against racism and discrimination. At the request of the government, he made radio broadcasts for the West Indies reporting on the progress of the war. As a result, he was often invited to radio broadcasts and took part in the 1943 documentary West Indies calling. For his wartime activities, Constantine was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1947 .

Trial of the Imperial Hotel

In August 1943 Constantine took part in a charity cricket match in London and booked a room for himself, his wife and daughter at the local Imperial Hotel ; When booking, he was told his skin color was not a problem. When he and his family arrived, he was told that he could only stay one night. The manager of the hotel told a colleague from the Ministry of Labor : “We are not going to have these niggers in our hotel.” (Eng. “We don't want these niggers in our hotel.”), And that the presence of the Constantine's especially US guests could disturb. His family was then moved to another hotel owned by the same owner. This experience hurt Constantine deeply, especially because he was supposed to play for a British team.

The incident was the subject of a request to the House of Commons and Constantine sued the hotel. Although there was no law against racial discrimination at the time, the judge of the High Court of Justice ruled in favor of Constantine, who argued the hotel had broken the contract. The law only allowed a fine of five guineas , but Constantine felt vindicated, especially since he received a lot of support from the public. In the Evening Standard to a highly regarded caricature of appeared David Low , in terms of racial theory of the Nazis was taken. This case was a first step towards the Race Relations Act of 1965 .

Education

In 1944 Learie Constantine enrolled as a student at the Middle Temple in London. To finance his studies, he played again as a professional cricket in Bradford until 1948 and worked as a coach. He continued to work as a journalist and radio and wrote several books on cricket. From 1947 to 1951 he was chairman of the League of Colored Peoples , in 1948 he became president of the Caribbean Congress of Labor and from 1947 to 1950 he was a member of the Colonial Social Welfare Advisory Committee .

Constantine did not enjoy his law studies, which he wanted to break off several times, but his wife motivated him to continue. In 1954 he graduated and was admitted to the bar. He decided to return to Trinidad; previously he published the book Color Bar , which had racial discrimination on the subject. In it he wrote:

" Almost the entire population in Britain really expect the colored man to live in an inferior area ... devoted to colored people ... Most British people would be quite unwilling for a black man to enter their homes, nor would they wish to work with one as a colleague, nor stand shoulder to shoulder with one at a factory bench. "

- Learie Constantine : Color Bar

“ Almost the entire British population actually wants people of color to live in an inferior area [...] which is only intended for people of color [...] Most Britons don't want a black man to come into their homes, they don't want to come with them work with them as colleagues and not stand shoulder to shoulder at the workbench with them. "

Return to Trinidad

When Learie Constantine returned to Trinidad, he was confronted with the aspirations for independence there. He was a legal advisor at his old employer, Trinidad Leaseholds , but found himself isolated from his white colleagues. As a result, he became involved in the newly founded People's National Movement (PNM) party and became party chairman in 1956. In the same year he was elected to Parliament and Minister for Communications, Works and Utilities . As a minister, he campaigned for the construction of roads, the expansion of the railways, and water and electricity supplies. In 1958 he was suspected of corruption. Constantine then gave an angry and undiplomatic speech to the Legislative Council of Trinidad and Tobago , which earned him a reputation for arrogance.

In the late 1950s, Constantine supported a successful campaign aimed at getting the West Indies cricket team to have a black captain for the first time. While in government, he participated in the West Indies Federation , which was another step on the road to independence. His reputation and familiarity with Britain played an important role in the negotiations that led to Trinidad's independence in 1962. In 1961 he decided not to run for parliament again, but was appointed by Eric Williams as the first High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in London.

Back in England

Learie Constantine took office as High Commissioner in June 1961. In 1962 he was raised to a Knight Bachelor degree and an honorary citizen of the city of Nelson. When a bus company in Bristol refused to hire black workers in April 1963 , Constantine went there and spoke to the press. Although this incident accelerated the passage of an anti-discrimination law in Britain, Constantine was criticized by British and domestic politicians for interfering in the host country's internal affairs as a foreign diplomat. Constantine then decided not to run again as High Commissioner and resigned when his term of office ended in February 1964.

Constantine spent the rest of his life in London . He again worked as a lawyer and was, despite his limited experience to Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple selected. He also resumed his journalistic activities, commented on the topics of cricket, racism and the Commonwealth in newspapers and radio and wrote two more books. For the first time he also commented on cricket on television.

In 1965 Constantine became a founding member of the Sports Council , whose aim was to further develop the sport in Great Britain. Three years later he was appointed to the three-person Race Relations Board that was supposed to investigate cases of racial discrimination. Other offices were offered to him, such as that of the rector of the University of St Andrews , in which he was able to get very little involved because of his poor health. In 1969 he was raised to the life peer with the title Baron Constantine of Maraval in Trinidad and Nelson in the County Palatine of Lancaster and thus the first black to occupy a seat in the House of Lords .

Although Learie Constantine was reluctant to leave England, it was planned that he should return to his homeland because of his poor health. Before that happened, he died on July 1, 1971 of a heart attack, probably caused by bronchitis . His body was flown to Trinidad, where he was buried with a state funeral. In the same year he was posthumously awarded the highest order of Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinity Cross . A few weeks later he was remembered at a memorial service at Westminster Abbey .

Fonts

  • Cricket and I . P Allan, London 1933, OCLC 761390201 .
  • Cricket in the Sun . Stanley Paul, London 1947, OCLC 2599524 .
  • Cricketers' Carnival . Stanley Paul, London 1948, OCLC 712737671 .
  • Cricketers' cricket . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1949, OCLC 712823063 .
  • Cricket crackers . Stanley Paul, London 1950, OCLC 265430007 .
  • How to Play Cricket . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1951, OCLC 7184447 .
  • Color bar . Stanley Paul, London 1954, OCLC 2205021 .
  • (With Denzil Batchelor) The Changing Face of Cricket . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1966, OCLC 6313368 .

literature

  • Christopher Douglas: Douglas Jardine. Spartan Cricketer . Methuen, London 2002, ISBN 0-413-77216-0 .
  • David Frith: Bodyline Autopsy. The full story of the most sensational Test cricket series: Australia v England 1932–33 . Aurum Press, London 2002, ISBN 1-85410-896-4 .
  • Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Readers Union Limited, Newton Abbot 1976. (Book Club edition. First published London, 1975. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-04-920043-7 )
  • CLR James: Beyond a Boundary . Serpent's Tail, London 1963, 1983, ISBN 1-85242-358-7 .
  • Michael Manley: A History of West Indies Cricket . Andre Deutsch, London 1988, 1995, ISBN 0-233-98937-4 .
  • Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Signal Books Limited, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-1-904955-42-9 .
  • RC Robertson-Glasgow: Cricket Prints: Some Batsmen and Bowlers, 1920-1940 . T. Werner Laurie Ltd, London 1943, OCLC 3257334 .
  • EW Swanton: Cricketers of My Time . Andre Deutsch, London 1999, ISBN 0-233-99746-6 .

Web links

Commons : Learie Constantine, Baron Constantine  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Constantine Collection. UNESCO - Memory of the World, accessed June 27, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Gerald Howat: Constantine, Learie Nicholas, Baron Constantine (1901–1971) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2004, Online Edition 2011. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  3. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 3.
  4. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, pp. 23, 26.
  5. ^ A b Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 2-3.
  6. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 23.
  7. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 3-4.
  8. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 5.
  9. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, pp. 28-29.
  10. ^ A b Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 7.
  11. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, pp. 33-34.
  12. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, pp. 31-32.
  13. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 6.
  14. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 34.
  15. ↑ CLR James: Beyond a Boundary . London 1963, 1983, p. 50.
  16. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 9-10.
  17. ^ British Guiana v Trinidad in 1922/23 . CricketArchives. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  18. ^ Barbados v Trinidad in 1922/23 . CricketArchives. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  19. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 11.
  20. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 11-12.
  21. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 12.
  22. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 14.
  23. ^ A b John Arlott: Lord Learie Constantine (Obituary) . In: Wisden Cricketers' Almanack . John Wisden & Co. 1972. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  24. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 27.
  25. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 30-31.
  26. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 94.
  27. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 62-63.
  28. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 105.
  29. ^ Learie Constantine (Cricketer of the Year) . In: Wisden Cricketers' Almanack . John Wisden & Co. 1940. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  30. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 28.
  31. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 52-53.
  32. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 98.
  33. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine. Oxford 2008, p. 37.
  34. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine. Newton Abbot 1976, p. 111.
  35. ↑ CLR James: Beyond a Boundary. London 1963, 1983, p. 110.
  36. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine. Oxford 2008, pp. 47-48.
  37. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine. Oxford 2008, pp. 82-33.
  38. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine. Newton Abbot 1976, p. 77.
  39. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine. Oxford 2008, p. 88.
  40. ^ A b c Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 94.
  41. ^ A b c Martin Williamson: We won't have niggers in this hotel . ESPNCricinfo. January 26, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  42. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 97.
  43. ^ David Low: Imperial Welcome . In: Evening Standard . September 7, 1943
  44. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 99.
  45. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 111.
  46. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 115.
  47. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 117.
  48. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 128-30.
  49. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 130-33.
  50. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, pp. 166-169.
  51. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 140-142.
  52. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 146-148.
  53. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 148-149.
  54. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, p. 149.
  55. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 153-155.
  56. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 158-159.
  57. ↑ Gerald Howat: Learie Constantine . Newton Abbot 1976, p. 189.
  58. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 164-166.
  59. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 166-167.
  60. ^ Peter Mason: Learie Constantine . Oxford 2008, pp. 181-182.
personal data
SURNAME Constantine, Learie, Baron Constantine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Constantine, Learie Nicholas, Baron Constantine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION West Indian cricketer and politician from Trinidad and Tobago
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Petit Valley , Trinidad
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1971
Place of death Brondesbury , London