Gary Flather
Gerald "Gary" Denis Flather, QC, OBE, (4 October 1937 – 9 October 2017) was an English barrister, judge and disability rights campaigner. Flather was the son of Denis Gerald Flather, group managing director of the family steel company based in Sheffield,[1][2] and Joan Ada (née Walker).[3] He was educated at Oundle School and Pembroke College, Oxford.[4] He sat for ten years as a deputy High Court judge, and for 27 years as a recorder. He founded the Bar Council Disability Committee, amongst other things campaigning for improved access in courts and for disabled students' rights.[4][5]
Flather married Shreela Rai, a politician, daughter of Rai Bahadur Aftab Rai, of New Delhi, India, a barrister and diplomat. Flather fought multiple sclerosis for forty years, necessitating the use of a wheelchair.[4][3][6][7] Flather was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 New Year Honours "for services to the Legal Profession and to promoting Disability Awareness."[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Leviathan- The Business Who's Who, Leviathan House, 1972, p. 129
- ^ "W. T. Flather - Graces Guide".
- ^ a b Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1444
- ^ a b c "Gary Flather". Thetimes.co.uk. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
- ^ https://www.graysinn.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/news/Bar%20Council%20news%20update%20-%2023-10-2017.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Family pays tribute to former judge Gary Flather". Maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
- ^ "When justice is blind - or comes to court in a wheelchair". Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
- ^ UK list: "No. 55354". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 1998. p. 10.
- 1937 births
- 2017 deaths
- Deaths from multiple sclerosis
- People with multiple sclerosis
- People from Sheffield
- English barristers
- 20th-century English judges
- British disability rights activists
- Neurological disease deaths in the United Kingdom
- People educated at Oundle School
- Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- English King's Counsel
- 20th-century King's Counsel
- Spouses of life peers
- 21st-century English judges
- British lawyers with disabilities
- English people with disabilities
- British activists with disabilities
- British wheelchair users
- British activist stubs
- English law biography stubs