Ioannis Clerides,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, QC (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Ιωάννης Κληρίδης, 1887–1961), sometimes known as John Clerides, was a

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming almost 99% of the 737,196 Cypri ...

lawyer and politician. He served as Mayor of

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

and was a candidate for president in Cyprus' first presidential election in 1959, where he was defeated by Archbishop

Makarios III Makarios III (born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos; 13 August 1913 – 3 August 1977) was a Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot prelate and politician who served as Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus from 1950 to 1977 and as the first president o ...

. He was the father of future President of Cyprus

Glafcos Clerides Glafcos Ioannou Clerides (; 24 April 1919 – 15 November 2013) was a Cypriot statesman, who served as President of Cyprus in 1974 and from 1993 to 2003. A barrister and former Royal Air Force pilot, Clerides played an important role in the ...

Early life

Ioannis Clerides was born in 1887 in Agros, in the region of

Pitsilia Pitsilia () is an agricultural region in Cyprus, with total area of , in a mountainous area of rocky land on very steep slopes that have been used mainly for grazing goats and sheep and for producing small amounts of cereals, wine and grapes. The ...

but he grew up in

. In 1907 he graduated from the Pancyprian Teachers Training school and worked as a schoolteacher for a few years before moving to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to study

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. He was

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 ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1914.

Career

He became a prominent Nicosia lawyer, and wrote on political and legal affairs at the newspapers ''Patris'' and ''Eleftheria''. Active on the struggle for

Enosis ''Enosis'' (, , "union") is an irredentist ideology held by various Greek communities living outside Greece that calls for them and the regions that they inhabit to be incorporated into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea ...

, the union of Cyprus to mainland

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, he served as secretary of the National Council (1921), member of the Archbishop's Throne Committee (1927–41), and of the Nicosia Greek Schools Board. Legal adviser to the archbishop for many years. He served a single term as Mayor of Nicosia from 1946 to 1949, supported by the left-wing

AKEL The Progressive Party of Working People (, , ΑΚΕΛ or AKEL; ) is a Marxist–LeninistHelena Smith, Cyprus gets ready for a communist 'takeover''The Guardian 2008 communist party in Cyprus. AKEL is one of the two major parties in Cyprus, and ...

. In 1952 he became a member of the Colony's Executive Council (under the British colonial government) but resigned in 1956, protesting the deportation of Archbishop

to the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

. In 1959 he was a candidate for president in Cyprus' first presidential election in 1959, with the support of

, but was defeated by Archbishop

. Notably, his own son,

, supported Makarios over his father. He was appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) and Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the British government.

Death

Ioannis Clerides died in 1961, aged 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clerides, Glafkos 1887 births 1961 deaths Members of Gray's Inn 20th-century Cypriot lawyers Progressive Party of Working People politicians People from Nicosia Mayors of Nicosia 20th-century King's Counsel Commanders of the Order of the British Empire