Ioannis Clerides QC

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

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

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 ...

lawyer and politician. He served as Mayor of Nicosia and was a candidate for president in Cyprus' first presidential election in 1959, where he was defeated by Archbishop

Makarios III Makarios III ( el, Μακάριος Γ΄; born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos) (Greek: Μιχαήλ Χριστοδούλου Μούσκος) (13 August 1913 – 3 August 1977) was a Cypriot politician, archbishop and primate who served as ...

. He was the father of future President of Cyprus

Glafcos Clerides Glafcos Ioannou Clerides ( el, Γλαύκος Ιωάννου Κληρίδης; 24 April 1919 – 15 November 2013) was a Cypriot politician and barrister who served as the fourth president of Cyprus from 1993 to 2003. At the time of his death, h ...

Early life

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

Pitsilia Pitsilia ( el, Πιτσιλιά) 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, ...

but he grew up in Nicosia. 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 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 study

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

. He was called to the bar at

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 Wa ...

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'' ( el, Ένωσις, , "union") is the movement of various Greek communities that live outside Greece for incorporation of the regions that they inhabit into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea, an irredentist con ...

, the union of Cyprus to mainland

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, 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 ( el, Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού, ; abbr. , AKEL; tr, Emekçi Halkın İlerici Partisi) is a Marxist–LeninistHelena Smith, Cyprus gets ready for a communist 'takeove ...

. 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 (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. 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 awarded the 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 Cypriot politicians People from Nicosia Mayors of Nicosia