Ian Macdonald QC
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Ian Alexander Macdonald QC (2 January 1939 – 12 November 2019) was a Scottish barrister who was "a pioneer of committed anti-racist legal practice" in the UK. During the 1970s he appeared in many notable political and human rights cases, including those involving the
Mangrove Nine The Mangrove Nine were a group of British Black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, West London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved ...
, the
Angry Brigade The Angry Brigade was a British group responsible for a series of armed actions against the establishment in England between 1970 and 1972. Using small bombs, they targeted banks, embassies, a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle, and the homes of Con ...
, and the
Balcombe Street siege The Balcombe Street siege was an incident involving members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and London's Metropolitan Police lasting from 6 to 12 December 1975. The siege ended with the surrender of the four IRA members and the ...
. He
took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...
in 1988 and was leader of the British bar in
immigration law Immigration law includes the national statutes, Primary and secondary legislation, regulations, and Precedent, legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as ...
for five decades until his death at the age of 80.


Biography

Macdonald was born and raised in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland, the son of Ian Macdonald, a banker, and his wife, Helen Nicolson. He attended
Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
, then studied law at
Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...
, going on to be
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
via
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...
in 1963. He became a member of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) when it began in 1964, lobbying the Labour government for race relations legislation, which resulted in the enactment of the 1968 Race Relations Act and the establishment of the
Race Relations Board The Race Relations Board in the United Kingdom was established in 1966 following the passage of the Race Relations Act 1965. The act specified that the board should consist of a chairman and two other members. Its remit was to consider complaints un ...
. In 1970, Macdonald was instrumental in the successful defence of the
Mangrove Nine The Mangrove Nine were a group of British Black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, West London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved ...
, a group of British Black activists tried for inciting a riot following a protest against repeated police raids of
The Mangrove The Mangrove was a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, London, England. It was founded in 1968 and run by civil rights activist Frank Crichlow, eventually closing in 1992. It is known for the trial of a group of British black activists dubbed ...
, a
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
restaurant in
Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...
, west London. He continually challenged the prejudices of the judge, as well as the prosecution and their witnesses, and what amounted to institutional racism in the justice system was given judicial recognition for the first time, including acknowledgement of behaviour (the repeated raids) motivated by racial hatred, rather than legitimate
crime control Crime control refers to methods taken to reduce crime in a society. Crime control standardizes police work. Crime prevention is also widely implemented in some countries, through government police and, in many cases, private policing methods such ...
, within the Metropolitan Police. He later wrote in ''
Race Today ''Race Today'' was a monthly (later bimonthly) British political magazine. Launched in 1969 by the Institute of Race Relations, it was from 1973 published by the ''Race Today'' Collective, which included figures such as Darcus Howe, Farrukh Dh ...
'': "The Mangrove Nine trial was a watershed because we learnt through experience how to confront the power of the court, because the defendants refused to play the role of 'victim' and rely on the so called 'expertise' of the lawyer. Once you recognise the defendant as a self-assertive human being, everything in the court has to change. The power and role of lawyers – the advocacy and the case preparation … What all radical lawyers have to decide is whether they want to retain their slice of the traditional lawyers cake or to participate in a bold new experience." Macdonald joined what was to become Garden Court Chambers in 1974. He was the author of the textbook that became known as "the immigration practitioners' bible", Macdonald's ''Immigration Law and Practice'', first published in 1983 and in its ninth edition by the time of his death. In 1984, he founded the
Immigration Law Practitioners Association Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) is a United Kingdom professional association of lawyers and academics practising in or concerned about immigration, asylum and nationality law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, a ...
, of which he was chair for the next 30 years. In another landmark case, that in 1981 of the "
Bradford 12 The United Black Youth League (UBYL) was an English militant anti-fascist, anti-imperialist and anti-racist self-defense organisation from Bradford, West Yorkshire, primarily made up of South Asian and West Indian-descended young people. It was fo ...
" – a group of Asian youths charged with manufacturing home-made milk-bottle petrol bombs when faced with attacks by racists from the National Front – Macdonald successfully argued for their acquittal by the jury on the grounds of a community's right to act in collective self-defence. Following the 1986 fatal stabbing of a 13-year-old Asian pupil by another 13-year-old pupil in the playground of
Burnage High School Burnage Academy for Boys, formerly known as Burnage High School for Boys, is an 11–16 boys secondary school with academy status, located in Burnage, Manchester, England. The school was founded in September 1932 as Burnage High School on its c ...
, in what was believed to be a racially motivated attack, Macdonald in 1987 headed an inquiry into racism and violence in Manchester schools, assisted by
Gus John Augustine John (born 11 March 1945),Biography
Gus John website. .
known as Gus John, is a Institute of Race Relations The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a think tank based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1958 in order to publish research on race relations worldwide, and in 1972 was transformed into an "anti-racist think tank". Proposed by ''Sund ...
noted: "Ian's concern for justice led him to activism in the anti-apartheid movement as well as close collaboration with Black feminists and educationalists, and with trades unionists in defence of workers' rights. ... He loved recounting his battles with the establishment – particularly the story of when he applied to become a QC, and the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, in whose gift it was, said 'Over my dead body!'" Hailsham ceased to be Lord Chancellor in 1987, having held the post longer than anyone else in the 20th century, and in 1988 Macdonald finally became a QC, "his appointment to silk after 25 years being well overdue", according to
Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is an Australian-British barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. Robertson is a founder and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. He serves as a Master of the Bench at the Middle T ...
. In 1996 Macdonald was founder in Manchester of Garden Court North Chambers, committed to upholding "people's rights through justice." Macdonald was a trustee of the
George Padmore Institute The George Padmore Institute (GPI), founded in 1991 in Stroud Green Road, North London, by John La Rose (1927–2006) and a group of political and cultural activists connected to New Beacon Books,Black Parents Movement The National Association of Black Supplementary Schools (NABSS) is a resource, information and advice centre for supplementary schools aimed at Black children and parents in the United Kingdom. Supplementary schools for the children of Caribbean an ...
, the Black Youth Movement and Race Today Collective. Macdonald died on 12 November 2019, aged 80, of a heart attack while on holiday in Australia with his family.


In popular media

Macdonald appears in the 1973
Franco Rosso Franco Rosso (29 August 1941 – 9 December 2016)Bill Douglas Centre"Franco Rosso 1942-2016" ''Babylon'', 27 December 2016.Martin Stellman"Franco Rosso obituary" ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2017. was an Italian-born film producer and director b ...
and
John La Rose John La Rose (27 December 1927 – 28 February 2006) was a political and cultural activist, poet, writer, publisher, founder in 1966 of New Beacon Books, the first specialist Caribbean publishing company in Britain, and subsequently Chairman of ...
documentary film ''The Mangrove Nine''. Actor
Jack Lowden Jack Andrew Lowden (born 1990) is a Scottish actor. Following a four-year stage career, his first major international onscreen success was in the 2016 BBC miniseries '' War & Peace'', which led to starring roles in feature films. Starring as Riv ...
portrays Macdonald in the ''
Mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
'' episode of
Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...
's 2020 film anthology/television miniseries '' Small Axe''. Based on the trial of the
Mangrove Nine The Mangrove Nine were a group of British Black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, West London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved ...
, the film shows Macdonald representing Barbara Beese during the case, in addition to offering advice to
Altheia Jones-LeCointe Altheia Jones-LeCointe (born 9 January 1945) is a Trinidadian physician and research scientist also known for her role as a leader of the British Black Panther Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Jones-LeCointe came to public attention in 1970 as o ...
and
Darcus Howe Leighton Rhett Radford "Darcus" Howe (26 February 1943 – 1 April 2017)"Civil ...
, the two defendants who chose to represent themselves. Alongside
Altheia Jones-LeCointe Altheia Jones-LeCointe (born 9 January 1945) is a Trinidadian physician and research scientist also known for her role as a leader of the British Black Panther Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Jones-LeCointe came to public attention in 1970 as o ...
and
Selma James Selma James (born Selma Deitch; formerly Weinstein; August 15, 1930) is an American writer, feminist, and social activist who is co-author of the women's movement book ''The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community'' (with Mariarosa Da ...
, Macdonald features in the film ''How the Mangrove Nine Won'', a first-hand account of the Mangrove Nine case made in 2016, and launched in November 2020 by
Global Women's Strike The Global Women's Strike is a movement that seeks to value all women's work and all women's lives around the world. Many countries (including Guyana, Haiti, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Peru, Luxembourg and Ireland) act ...
as a fundraiser for the Haitian Emergency Relief Fund.


Further reading

*
Gus John Augustine John (born 11 March 1945),Biography
Gus John website. .
known as Gus John, is a "Rest In Peace friend and comrade Ian Macdonald QC"
New Beacon Books New Beacon Books is a British publishing house, bookshop, and international book service that specializes in Black British, Caribbean, African, African-American and Asian literature. Founded in 1966 by John La Rose and Sarah White, it was the ...
, 18 November 2019.


References


External links


"Ian Macdonald QC 1939–2019"
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, 18 December 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Ian 1939 births 2019 deaths 20th-century King's Counsel 20th-century Scottish lawyers 21st-century King's Counsel 21st-century Scottish lawyers Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Human rights lawyers Immigration lawyers Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Rugby School