October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine, MBE was a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK’s first black peer. He played 18 Test matches before the Second World War and took the West Indies’ first wicket in Test cricket. An advocate against racial discrimination, in later life he was influential in the passing of the 1965 Race Relations Act in Britain. He was knighted in 1962 and made a life peer in 1969.

Born in Trinidad to the grandson of slaves, Constantine established an early reputation as a promising cricketer, but decided to pursue a career as a professional cricketer in England due to the lack of opportunities in his home country. His father wanted him to establish himself in a career, so he had become a clerk in a legal firm but faced many social restrictions as a black man. On arrival in the UK he played for Nelson in Lancashire, while remaining a member of the West Indies Test team, and was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1939.

In 1927 Constantine had married his wife Norma Cox; they had a daughter, Gloria, in 1928.

During the Second World War, Constantine worked as a Welfare Officer responsible for West Indians employed in English factories, and was awarded his MBE in 1947 for his wartime work. In 1943, after a London hotel refused to accommodate him and his family because of their colour, Constantine successfully sued the hotel company (Constantine v Imperial London Hotels) – a milestone in British racial equality.

Constantine qualified as a barrister in 1954, while also establishing himself as a journalist and broadcaster. He returned to Trinidad in 1954, became a founding member of the People’s National Movement, subsequently becoming a minister in the Trinidad government. From 1961 to 1964, he served as Trinidad’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, was knighted in 1962, and became involved in issues relating to racial discrimination. He served on the Race Relations Board, the Sports Council, and the Board of Governors of the BBC, and was awarded a life peerage in 1969, becoming the first black man to sit in the House of Lords.

Constantine died of a heart attack in 1971, aged 69, and was buried in Trinidad. Norma died two months later.

More about Learie Constantine at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learie_Constantine