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, and Joan Ada (née Walker). He was educated at Oundle School and Pembroke College, Oxford. 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.
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. 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."
References
- Leviathan- The Business Who's Who, Leviathan House, 1972, p. 129
- "W. T. Flather - Graces Guide".
- ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1444
- ^ "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
- "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.
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- 1937 births
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- Deaths from multiple sclerosis
- People with multiple sclerosis
- People from Sheffield
- English barristers
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