Ioannis Clerides

Ioannis Clerides, CBE, QC (Greek: Ιωάννης Κληρίδης, 1887–17 January 1961), sometimes known as John Clerides, was a Greek Cypriot 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. He was the father of future President of Cyprus Glafcos Clerides. 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 to study Law. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1914.

Career

He became a prominent Nicosia lawyer, and wrote on political and legal affairs at the newspapers Patris and Eleftheria. supported by the left-wing AKEL. 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 Makarios III to the Seychelles.

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.