View source for Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner

{{Short description|British peer (1900–1990)}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Baron Gardiner|John Gardiner, Baron Gardiner of Kimble}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lord Gardiner
| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|PC|QC}}
| image = The Lord Gardiner.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = Lord Gardiner in 1977
| order1 = [[Lord Chancellor]]
| term_start1 = 16 October 1964
| term_end1 = 19 June 1970
| monarch1 = [[Elizabeth II]]
| primeminister1 = [[Harold Wilson]]
| predecessor1 = [[Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne|The Lord Dilhorne]]
| successor1 = [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|The Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone]]
|office5 = Member of the [[House of Lords]]<br />[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]]
|term_start5 = 15 January 1964
|term_end5 = 7 January 1990<br />[[Life peer|Life Peerage]]
| birth_name = Gerald Austin Gardiner
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1900|05|30}}
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1990|01|7|1900|05|30}}
| death_place = London, England
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| alma_mater = [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Lesley Trounson|1925|1966|end = died}}|{{marriage|[[Muriel Box]]|1970}}}}
| children = 1
}}
'''Gerald Austin Gardiner, Baron Gardiner''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|CH|PC|QC}} (30 May 1900 – 7 January 1990) was a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour politician]], who served as [[Lord Chancellor|Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]] from [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964]] to [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970]]. In that position he embarked on a programme of reform, most importantly setting up the [[Law Commission (England and Wales)|Law Commission]] in 1965.<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Gardiner, Gerald Austin, Baron Gardiner (1900–1990), lord chancellor|last = Marsh|first = Norman S.|date = 2004|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/40090}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Gardiner was born in [[Chelsea, London]].<ref name = ODNB/> His father was [[Robert Septimus Gardiner]] (died 16 November 1939)<ref>''The Times'', Saturday, 18 November 1939; pg. 1; Issue 48466; col A: Death notices</ref> and his mother was Alice von Ziegesar (died 31 January 1953<ref>''The Times'', Thursday, 5 February 1953; pg. 8; Issue 52538; col E: Death Notice of Lady Gardiner.</ref>), daughter of Count von Ziegesar and granddaughter of [[Dionysius Lardner]].<ref>The Times, Monday, 20 November 1939; pg. 8; Issue 48467; col D ''Sir Robert Gardiner'' Obituary. [http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/CB-Lardn.HTM Dionysus Lardner archive with marriage certificate of Susan Lardner and Baron von Ziegesar]</ref> He attended [[Harrow School]].<ref name = ODNB/> 

While Gardiner was at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]] in the 1920s, he became [[List of presidents of the Oxford Union|president]] of the [[Oxford Union]] and of the [[Oxford University Dramatic Society]].<ref name = ODNB/> He was [[Rustication (academia)|rusticated]] (suspended) in 1921, and was again threatened with rustication in November 1922, for publishing a pamphlet attacking restrictions on women undergraduates.<ref name = ODNB/> A woman undergraduate had suffered the same fate a few days previously for climbing into a men's college after a dance.{{dub|date=May 2022}} Gardiner rushed to her defence and the Vice-Chancellor, [[Lewis Richard Farnell]], notoriously out of touch with the post-war generation, asked Gardiner to leave at 06:00; any later, Farnell knew, would have meant a sympathetic funeral procession several hundred strong. The girl to whose defence Gardiner had come was [[Dilys Powell]], who later became a film critic.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Gardiner graduated with a fourth-class degree in jurisprudence in 1923.

While occupying the position of Chancellor of the [[Open University]], he took a degree in the Social Sciences, at the age of 76.<ref name="times280177">{{cite news|title=Open university chancellor and window cleaner among 5,800 latest graduates |newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=28 January 1977}}</ref>

==Pacifism==
Gerald Gardiner served in the [[Coldstream Guards]] in 1918 and was commissioned in 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31252|date=25 March 1919|page=3970|supp=y}}</ref> but in the 1930s he joined the [[Peace Pledge Union]]. During [[World War II]] Gardiner volunteered to join the [[Friends' Ambulance Unit]], as an alternative to military service, although he was actually just over [[conscription]] age, and served 1943 to 1945; as someone relatively mature, he was usefully able to lead a 55-strong team assisting refugees in the turmoil of North-West Europe in the last year of the war.

==Legal career==
Gardiner was [[called to the Bar]] in 1925 and was made [[King's Counsel]] in 1948.<ref name = ODNB/> As a lawyer, he fought for the abolition of capital punishment.<ref name = ODNB/> He represented ''[[The Daily Mirror]]'' and its columnist 'Cassandra' ([[William Connor]]) in a notable libel trial in 1959 when the pianist [[Liberace]] claimed that a newspaper article imputed that he was homosexual.<ref>''Crying All The Way to the Bank'' – Liberace v. The Daily Mirror and Cassandra, by Revel Barker, 2009</ref> More successfully, he was the Counsel for the Defence in [[R v Penguin Books Ltd]], the trial for obscenity of the publishers of ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' in 1960. He played an active role in various reform movements and held numerous professional positions. He was a member of the Committee on Supreme Court Practice and Procedure, 1947–53 chaired by [[Raymond Evershed, 1st Baron Evershed]].<ref>Lord Evershed's [[ODNB]] biography says: "The committee spent six years examining the rules which had mainly been introduced in 1875 to govern the newly created, single Supreme Court. By the middle of the twentieth century this code had distinctly aged and become an ill-assorted patchwork. Following three interim reports the committee reported finally in 1953 with more than 200 recommendations. " -[[ODNB]] article by Nicholls of Birkenhead, 'Evershed, (Francis) Raymond, Baron Evershed (1899–1966)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33051 online edn, Jan 2008], accessed 27 March 2008.</ref> He was a member of the Lord Chancellor's Law Reform Committee, 1952–63. He was a Master of the Bench of the [[Inner Temple]] in 1955, Chairman of the [[General Council of the Bar]] in 1958 and 1959.<ref>[http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/ Bar Council website] (Accessed 27 March 2008).</ref> He was a member of the [[International Commission of Jurists]] in 1971.<ref name = ODNB/> He was Joint Chairman of the National Campaign for Abolition of Capital Punishment.<ref name = ODNB/>

==Lord Chancellorship==
Gardiner stood for election as the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]'s candidate in the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 General Election]] in [[Croydon West (UK Parliament constituency)|Croydon West]].<ref name = ODNB/> He lost to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]], [[Sir Richard Thompson, 1st Baronet|Richard Thompson]]. In the [[1964 New Year Honours]] he was made a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Gardiner''', of [[Kittisford]] in the County of Somerset.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43222 |date=17 January 1964 |page=467}}</ref> On the Labour Party's [[1964 United Kingdom general election|General Election victory in 1964]], he was appointed Lord Chancellor and to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom]] in 1964 by [[Harold Wilson]]. In 1970, the Labour Party was defeated in the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|General Election]] and Lord Gardiner resigned as Lord Chancellor. In that role, he was responsible for the creation of the [[Ombudsman]]. He also did much to advance [[women's rights]].

===Security surveillance===
During debates on the [[British Telecommunications Act 1981|British Telecommunications Bill]]<ref>Enacted as the ''British Telecommunications Act 1981 c. 38''</ref> in the [[House of Lords]] in 1981, various members raised concerns about telephone tapping, a matter of disquiet in the community and amongst these members. In his contribution, Lord Gardiner told of the difficulties he experienced as Lord Chancellor (1964–1970) in being able to conduct strictly private discussions with the then [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney-General]]. Lord Gardiner said he believed his telephone calls were intercepted by a British intelligence organisation. He also alluded to a need to take a ride around the park in his chauffeur-driven car with the Attorney-General to ensure security of their conversations – rather than having 'security' listen in<ref>''The Times'', Wednesday, 20 May 1981; pg. 5; Issue 60932; col G "House of Lords Lord Gardiner thought his phone was bugged."</ref>

==Post-Lord Chancellorship==

===Northern Ireland Interrogation methods Minority Report===
Lord Gardiner published the ''Minority Report'' in March 1972 as part of the [[Parker Report]] (''Report of the Committee of Privy Counsellors appointed to consider authorised procedures for the interrogation of persons suspected of terrorism''),<ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/parker.htm Parker Report online source.]</ref> which considered the interrogation procedures used against suspects of terrorism in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to allegations of torture during internment in 1971 (See [[Sensory deprivation]], [[Use of torture since 1948#United Kingdom]], [[Five techniques]]). Lord Gardiner was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1975 New Year's Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46444 |date=1 January 1975 |page=23 |supp=y}}</ref>

===Assassination attempt===
In June 1981 Gardiner survived an assassination attempt when a [[car bomb|bomb]] containing 3 pounds of explosive was attached to his car by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] during a visit to [[Belfast]]. The device was later found near the junction of University Road and Elmwood Avenue, Belfast, and defused by the British Army. The IRA released a statement saying: "We meant to kill Gardiner, the political architect of the criminalization policy and the [[H-blocks]]. The device fell off the car and failed to explode."<ref>{{Cite news|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=15 June 1981|page=1|issue=60954|title=Bomb meant for Gardiner, IRA claims}}</ref>

===Open University===
He was [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[Open University]] from 1973 to 1978.

==Personal life==
In 1925, Gardiner married Lesly Trounson; they had one daughter, and were married until his wife's death in 1966.<ref name = ODNB/> In 1970, Gardiner married [[Muriel Box]], a writer, producer and director who had won an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for Best Original Screenplay for ''[[The Seventh Veil]]''. She published his biography in 1983.<ref>''Rebel advocate: a biography of Gerald Gardiner'' by Muriel Box, Gollancz (1983) {{ISBN|0-575-03269-3}}</ref> 

Gardiner died at his home in [[Mill Hill]], London, on 7 January 1990, at the age of 89.<ref name = ODNB/>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Gardiner Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|crest = A Stag proper gorged with a collar Argent charged with three lozenges conjoined Gules and supporting with the dexter leg an escutcheon also Argent charged with four lozenges conjoined in fess Gules between two barrulets Sable and in chief a Rose also Gules.
|escutcheon = Gules a plain fess with cottises engrailed Argent between four roses three in chief and one in base of the last.<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=1990 |page=497}}</ref>
|motto = In Deo Confidecti Age (Trust in God, Act Rightly)
|supporters = Dexter a pegasus Argent sinister a dragon Gules.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/lp1958%20g.htm |title=Life Peerages - G |website=www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210637/http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/lp1958%20g.htm |archive-date=23 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> }}

== Legacy ==
Gardiner's archives are held by two institutions, the [[Churchill College, Cambridge|Churchill Archive Centre]] in Cambridge<ref>[https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1579 The Papers of Gerald Gardiner at Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College]</ref> and the [[British Library]].<ref>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-002000774 Gerald Gardiner Papers], archives and manuscripts catalogue, the British Library. Retrieved 15 May 2020</ref> The latter collection chiefly concerns the abolition of capital punishment in Great Britain.

==Publications==
*''Capital Punishment as a Deterrent: and the alternative'', London, [[Victor Gollancz]] (1956).
*''Law Reform Now'' (Edited with Andrew Martin), London, Victor Gollancz (1963).
*Justice (INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS) ''Living it down. The problem of old convictions. The report of a Committee set up by Justice, The Howard League for Penal Reform, The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders''. Chairman of Committee, the Rt. Hon. Lord Gardiner. London: Stevens & Sons, 1972. {{ISBN|0-420-43910-2}}
*UK Government, Northern Ireland Office. ''Report of a Committee to consider, in the context of civil liberties and human rights, measures to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland, etc.'' (1975) (Parliamentary papers. Cmnd. 5847) {{ISBN|0-10-158470-9}}, Chair: Lord Gardiner.

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{succession box 
| title=[[Lord Chancellor|Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]]
| years=1964–1970
| before=[[Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne|The Lord Dilhorne]] 
| after=[[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|The Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone]] 
}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[Open University]]
| years = 1973–1978
| before = [[Geoffrey Crowther, Baron Crowther|The Lord Crowther]]
| after = [[Asa Briggs|The Lord Briggs]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Lord chancellors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Gerald}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Open University]]
[[Category:British conscientious objectors]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the Open University]]
[[Category:English King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Lord chancellors of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Members of London County Council]]
[[Category:Members of the Fabian Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Inner Temple]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970]]
[[Category:People associated with the Friends' Ambulance Unit]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Oxford Union]]
[[Category:20th-century King's Counsel]]
[[Category:20th-century English lawyers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Coldstream Guards soldiers]]
[[Category:20th-century Quakers]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]