Peter Benenson (born Peter James Henry Solomon; 31 July 1921 – 25 February 2005) was a
British barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...
, human rights activist and the founder of the human rights group
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
(AI). He refused all honours for most of his life, but in his 80s, largely to please his family, he accepted the
Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2001.
Early life
Benenson was born in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
to a large Jewish family, the only son of British-born Harold Solomon and Russian-born
Flora Benenson; Peter Benenson adopted his mother's maiden name later in life. His father, an army officer, died from a long-term injury when Benenson was nine, and he was privately tutored by
W. H. Auden before attending
Eton College
Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...
. At the age of sixteen, he helped to establish a relief fund with other schoolboys for children orphaned by the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
. He took his mother's maiden name of Benenson acceding to his dying grandfather’s wishes, the
Russian financier Grigori Benenson (1860–1939).
He enrolled for study at
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
, but
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
interrupted his education. He served in the
Intelligence Corps at the
Ministry of Information, where he met his first wife, Margaret Anderson. He worked at
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
during World War II in the
Testery. He is listed as RSM Benenson in Room 41 as a cryptographer.
Career
After demobilisation in 1946, Benenson began practising as a barrister before joining the
Labour Party and standing unsuccessfully for election at
Streatham
Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
Streatham was in Surrey ...
in 1950 and for
Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842.
History
Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding ...
in 1951, 1955, and 1959. He was one of a group of British lawyers who, in 1957, founded
JUSTICE
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
, the UK-based human rights and law reform organisation. In 1958, he fell ill and moved to Italy to convalesce. In the same year, he converted to the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Activism
Benenson had said he was shocked and angered by a newspaper report of two Portuguese people sentenced to prison for subversion during
the regime of
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...
. At the time, Portugal was ruled by the authoritarian
Estado Novo regime, and anti-regime conspiracies were vigorously repressed by the Portuguese state police and deemed anti-Portuguese. He wrote to
David Astor, editor of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
''. On 28 May 1961, Benenson's article, entitled "
The Forgotten Prisoners", was published. The letter asked readers to write letters showing support for all those imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs. To co-ordinate such letter-writing campaigns,
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
was founded in London in July 1961 at a meeting of Benenson and six other men, who included a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, a
Liberal and a
Labour MP. The response was so overwhelming that within a year various groups of letter-writers had formed in more than a dozen countries.
Amnesty International
Initially appointed general secretary of AI, Benenson stood down in 1964 owing to ill health. By 1966, Amnesty International faced an
internal crisis. The advisory position of president of the International Executive was then created for him. In 1966, after a controversial report alleging
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
during the
Aden Emergency
The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen.
Partly inspire ...
went ultimately unpublished, he began to make allegations that the British government had infiltrated the governance of AI. An inquiry was set up which reported at
Elsinore in Denmark in 1967. The allegations were rejected and Benenson resigned from AI. He later denounced the agency for its fixation on denouncing
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
While never again active in the organisation, Benenson was later personally reconciled with other executives, including
Seán MacBride
Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 19 ...
.
Personal life
Benenson's marriage to his first wife Margaret Anderson ended in a divorce in 1972. He married Susan Booth in 1973; they had two children and were married until his death in 2005.
Death
Benenson died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
on 25 February 2005 at the
John Radcliffe Hospital,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, aged 83, having been a resident of the nearby village of
Nuneham Courtenay
Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford. It occupies a pronounced section of the left bank of the River Thames.
Geography
The parish is bounded to the west by the River Thames and on other sides by field boun ...
where he was buried.
References
Sources
*Pincock, S.: Peter James Henry Solomon Benenson (obituary). ''Lancet'', 2 April 2005; 365: 1224.
External links
Obituary BBC News
"The forgotten Prisoners" 1961 article (abridged)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benenson, Peter
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Amnesty International people
English human rights activists
Bletchley Park people
Roman Catholic activists
English Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
English Jews
People educated at Eton College
1921 births
2005 deaths
Deaths from pneumonia in England
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
Nonviolence advocates
People from London
English barristers