116 Facts About Learie Constantine

Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine was a Trinidadian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black peer.

Learie Constantine played 18 Test matches for the West Indies before the Second World War and took the team's first wicket in Test cricket.

Learie Constantine was knighted in 1962 and made a life peer in 1969.

Learie Constantine played for the club with distinction between 1929 and 1938, while continuing as a member of the West Indies Test team in tours of England and Australia.

Learie Constantine was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1939.

Learie Constantine returned to Trinidad and Tobago in 1954, entered politics and became a founding member of the People's National Movement, subsequently entering the government as minister of communications.

Learie Constantine died of a heart attack on 1 July 1971, aged 69.

Learie Constantine was born in Petit Valley, a village close to Diego Martin in north-west Trinidad, on 21 September 1901, the second child of the family and the eldest of three brothers.

Learie Constantine's mother, Anaise Pascall, was the daughter of slaves, and her brother Victor, was a Trinidad and Tobago and West Indian first-class cricketer; a third family member, Learie Constantine's brother Elias, later represented Trinidad and Tobago.

Learie Constantine wrote that although the family was not wealthy, his childhood was happy.

Learie Constantine spent a lot of time playing in the hills near his home or on the estates where his father and grandfather worked.

Learie Constantine enjoyed cricket from an early age; the family regularly practised together under the supervision of Lebrun and Victor Pascall.

Learie Constantine first went to the St Ann's Government School in Port of Spain, then attended St Ann's Roman Catholic School until 1917.

Learie Constantine displayed little enthusiasm for learning and never reached a high academic standard, but showed prowess at several sports and was respected for his cricketing lineage.

Learie Constantine played for the school cricket team, which he captained in his last two years, by which time he was developing a reputation as an attacking batsman, a good fast-medium bowler and an excellent fielder.

Learie Constantine's father prohibited him from playing competitive club cricket until 1920 for fear of premature exposure to top-class opposition while too young; in addition, he first wanted his son to establish a professional career.

In 1916, before his father imposed a ban on competitive cricket, Learie Constantine had played briefly for Shannon Cricket Club; he returned to the club in 1920.

Learie Constantine's cricket thrived in this atmosphere, and the club helped to form some of his political views.

Learie Constantine particularly noticed that in Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricket, white and light-skinned players were often favoured over black players of greater ability.

Unfortunately, Learie Constantine arrived late after a newspaper advertised the wrong starting time, and did not play.

Learie Constantine scored a duck in his first innings, batting at number eight in the batting order.

Learie Constantine played for Trinidad and Tobago in the next Inter-Colonial Tournament, in British Guiana in 1922.

Mainly on the strength of his fielding, Austin secured Learie Constantine's selection for the 1923 West Indian tour of England; it was a surprising choice, as there were other candidates who appeared to have stronger claims.

Challenor was the biggest individual success of the tour, but Learie Constantine impressed English critics, through his style of play more than his statistical achievements.

Learie Constantine played 20 first-class matches on the tour, scoring 425 runs at an average of 15.74 and taking 37 wickets at an average of 21.86.

Learie Constantine took five wickets in an innings for the first time, in the match against Kent.

Learie Constantine took several temporary jobs but was often forced to rely financially upon his family.

Learie Constantine was initially dropped from the West Indies team to face the Marylebone Cricket Club touring team during 1926, though he was recalled for the second match, at the insistence of Austin, who wanted a good cover fielder in the team.

The MCC fast bowlers had bowled short at the 49-year-old Austin; in retaliation, Learie Constantine bounced the MCC captain, Freddie Calthorpe, and only stopped after James pointed out the diplomatic row which would follow if Calthorpe, a respected figure in the British establishment, was hit by the ball.

Once more, Learie Constantine's performances were not statistically exceptional, but his style impressed critics and spectators, and he came top of the West Indies bowling averages.

Learie Constantine realised that to succeed as a professional cricketer, he needed to improve; his bowling lacked true speed and, when batting, he was often dismissed playing shots that were too adventurous.

Learie Constantine left behind his wife Norma, whom he had married in 1927, and his newly born daughter.

Learie Constantine scored 50 in 18 minutes and reached 86 in under an hour, to avert his side's follow-on.

In Middlesex's second innings, Learie Constantine took seven for 57 in a spell of extremely fast bowling and the county were dismissed for 136.

The West Indies needed 259 to win; they looked likely to lose when Learie Constantine returned to bat with the score 121 for five.

Learie Constantine scored 103 in 60 minutes, hitting two sixes and 12 fours and guiding the West Indies to a three-wicket victory.

Learie Constantine was second in the team's batting averages with 1,381 runs at 34.52, and led the bowling averages with 107 wickets at 22.95.

Learie Constantine took 16 wickets in the two games and scored 133 in the final against Barbados, the highest score of his career and a record for Trinidad and Tobago at the time.

In 1929 Learie Constantine played one match in Jamaica for a West Indies team against an English touring team and then travelled to Nelson to begin his professional career.

Learie Constantine returned to the West Indies to face England in a four-match Test series early in 1930.

The first Test was drawn; Learie Constantine scored few runs, but bowled for a long time and fielded well.

Calthorpe, the MCC captain, criticised his use of short-pitched bowling to a leg side field; one such ball struck Andy Sandham, but Learie Constantine only reverted to more conventional tactics after a request from the MCC manager.

Learie Constantine was omitted from the final match in Jamaica, because inter-island politics meant that selectors tended to pick players from the island hosting the Test.

The side felt some trepidation over how the black members of the side would be received, but the tour passed off without incident; Learie Constantine later praised the reception the team was accorded.

Learie Constantine considered this unsatisfactory, and felt it affected the team's performances.

Learie Constantine achieved little in the series, scoring 72 runs at 7.20 and taking eight wickets at 50.87.

In other first-class games, he was more successful and, although Headley performed very well, it was Learie Constantine who proved most popular with spectators.

Learie Constantine scored a century in 52 minutes against Tasmania, played five other innings over fifty and took three five-wicket returns.

Learie Constantine never challenged Nelson over this; some critics suggested he was swayed by the greater financial rewards the club provided.

However, the slowness of the pitch reduced the effectiveness of the Bodyline tactics, and Learie Constantine took one for 55; England's captain Douglas Jardine, who had implemented the Bodyline tactics in Australia, batted for five hours to score his only Test century.

When Jardine heard, he convinced the England selectors to include Nichols in the England team for the Test, the deal collapsed and Learie Constantine did not play.

Learie Constantine worked in India as a cricket coach during 1934, playing two matches in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament.

Learie Constantine was invited to play in the 1935 Test series against England in the West Indies, and although he arrived too late for the first Test, won by England, he played in the remaining three games of the series.

The West Indies won by 217 runs, with Learie Constantine taking three for 11; in the match as a whole he scored 121 runs and took five wickets.

Apart from one guest appearance for Barbados in a friendly match early in 1939, Learie Constantine did not play first-class cricket after 1935 until the West Indies toured England in 1939.

Learie Constantine had deliberately not signed a league contract in 1939, to be available for the tour.

Learie Constantine believed the captain, Rolph Grant, was unqualified for the job and had been appointed only because he was white.

Learie Constantine captained the side in one match, but was reprimanded by the West Indies board for not pursuing a win.

Learie Constantine bowled more overs than any other member of the team, and was the side's leading wicket-taker with 103 wickets in the season.

Learie Constantine revolutionised all the recognised features of cricket and, surpass[ed] Bradman in his amazing stroke play.

Learie Constantine played one more first-class match when, in 1945, he captained a team representing the "Dominions" against England at Lord's.

Learie Constantine bowled very little, but ran out a batsman at a key point in the final innings.

In 1928, Learie Constantine had signed an initial three-year contract with Nelson, to play in the Lancashire League.

Learie Constantine remained there until 1937, an unusually long time for a professional to remain with one club.

Learie Constantine's appearances boosted attendances and gate receipts for all Nelson's matches, and was of great financial benefit to both the club and the League as a whole.

Learie Constantine took over 70 wickets every season and his bowling average never rose above 11.30; in five seasons, he averaged under ten runs per wicket.

Learie Constantine's batting was based on good eyesight, quick reflexes and natural ability.

Learie Constantine used his wrists to adjust the angle of the bat at the last second, allowing him to counter unexpected late movement of the ball.

Learie Constantine batted by instinct and, according to Manley, "his every stroke [owed] more to energy than calculation".

Learie Constantine was capable of scoring rapidly against any standard of bowling, but rarely survived for long periods because he chose not to defend.

Critics believed that Learie Constantine's batting reached its peak once he became an accomplished league cricketer.

Learie Constantine appreciated the greater freedom he enjoyed in Nelson as compared with Trinidad and Tobago, where racial issues predominated.

Learie Constantine quickly established boundaries over what he considered acceptable, permitting and even sharing small jokes over skin colour but protesting strongly at outright racism.

Learie Constantine's wife persuaded him otherwise, pointing out the benefits from remaining to complete his contract.

From 1930, Learie Constantine found life more comfortable; the family began to develop friendships and to engage in the social life of the town.

James was at the forefront of a growing West Indian nationalist movement, though Learie Constantine had until then consciously avoided politics.

Learie Constantine joined the League of Coloured Peoples, an organisation aiming to achieve racial equality for black people in Britain.

Learie Constantine helped James to get a job with the Manchester Guardian, and in return, James helped Constantine to write his first book, Cricket and I, which was published in 1933.

Learie Constantine worked closely with trade unions in an attempt to ease the fears and suspicions of white workers.

Learie Constantine used his influence with the Ministry of Labour to pressurise companies who refused to employ West Indians, but generally preferred negotiation to confrontation, an approach that was often successful.

Learie Constantine particularly took up the cause of the children of white women and black overseas servicemen; these children were often abandoned by their parents.

Learie Constantine remained in his post until the summer of 1946, latterly concerned with the repatriation of the West Indian workers at the end of the war.

Learie Constantine had been specifically told that his colour would not be an issue at the hotel.

Learie Constantine informed the court that the attitude of the hotel changed between his booking and arrival, owing to the presence of white American servicemen.

Learie Constantine did not pursue the case any further as he believed he had sufficiently raised the issue of racism in the public eye; the case was widely reported in the press, and Constantine received great support from both the public and the government.

Learie Constantine extended his work in journalism and broadcasting, as a cricket reporter and as a radio commentator when the West Indies toured England in 1950.

Learie Constantine wrote several cricket books, probably with the help of a ghostwriter.

In 1947 Learie Constantine became chairman of the League of Coloured Peoples, a position he held until the League was discontinued in 1951.

Learie Constantine lobbied the government on Khama's behalf, organised meetings and even approached the United Nations.

Little was achieved, and Learie Constantine disapproved of the approach of the Labour government and its Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, but declined an opportunity to become a Liberal parliamentary candidate.

Learie Constantine neither enjoyed his legal studies, nor found the work easy, but was determined to prove he could succeed.

Learie Constantine's wife kept him motivated, restricted visitors to avoid distractions and forced him to study, making him continue when he was several times tempted to give up.

The family moved to London in 1949; between 1950 and 1954, Learie Constantine passed the required series of examinations, and in 1954 he was called to the bar by the Middle Temple.

When Learie Constantine returned to Trinidad and Tobago in late 1954, he found a growing desire for independence from Britain.

Learie Constantine won a narrow victory, which his colleagues believed few in the party could have done, and resigned from Trinidad Leaseholds.

The PNM formed a government, in which Learie Constantine became the Minister of Communications, Works and Utilities.

Peter Mason writes that Learie Constantine's political career in Trinidad and Tobago was a success: he was efficient, active, respected and popular.

Learie Constantine began his role as High Commissioner in June 1961.

Mason notes that Learie Constantine had now "passed firmly into the consciousness as a British treasure".

Learie Constantine felt that his high-profile required him to speak out on racial issues affecting all West Indian immigrants, not just Trinidadians.

Learie Constantine's intervention assisted in a speedy resolution of the affair which, according to Mason, was crucial in persuading the British government of the need for a Race Relations Act.

Williams effectively withdrew his support from Learie Constantine, who decided not to continue as High Commissioner when his term expired in February 1964.

Learie Constantine returned to legal practice and was elected an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple in 1963.

Learie Constantine resumed work in journalism: he wrote and broadcast on cricket, race and the Commonwealth, and produced two more books: a coaching book The Young Cricketers Companion, and The Changing Face of Cricket which included his thoughts on modern cricket.

Learie Constantine made his debut as a television cricket commentator, although his failing health and talkative style meant he was less successful than on the radio.

Learie Constantine was appointed to the BBC's General Advisory Committee in 1966 and became a BBC Governor two years later, although declining health restricted his involvement.

Learie Constantine was awarded a life peerage in 1969 New Year Honours List, becoming the first black man to sit in the House of Lords; there were rumours that Trinidad and Tobago had prevented earlier attempts to ennoble him.

Learie Constantine took the title of Baron Constantine, of Maraval in Trinidad and of Nelson in the County Palatine of Lancaster.

Learie Constantine's body was flown to Trinidad and Tobago, where he received a state funeral before being buried in Arouca.

Learie Constantine was posthumously awarded Trinidad and Tobago's highest honour, the Trinity Cross.

Learie Constantine met his future wife, Norma Agatha Cox, in 1921.

Learie Constantine had little interest in cricket and, although their relationship developed during the early 1920s, she resented that he gave more time to cricket than he did to her.

Norma, Lady Learie Constantine, died two months after her husband's death in 1971.

Learie Constantine is commemorated by a blue plaque, erected in 2013 by English Heritage at 101 Lexham Gardens, Kensington, London, his home from 1949 to 1954.

Learie Constantine's outlook was that of a compassionate radical and he maintained his high moral standards unswervingly.

Subsequently, Learie Constantine continually bowled short when he encountered Hammond on the field, until the pair made peace in the Old Trafford Test match of 1933.