THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
Obituary: Lord Richard Harries of Pentregarth
2 June 1936 – 29 April 2026
A Champion of Dalit Human Rights and a Voice for the Voiceless
Richard Douglas Harries, Baron Harries of Pentregarth, who passed away on 29 April 2026 at the age of 89, was a retired Bishop of the Church of England, a life peer, and one of the most persistent and principled voices for Dalit human rights ever to grace the corridors of the British Parliament.
In his final weeks, even as illness weighed heavily upon him, Lord Harries remained steadfast in his commitments. On 18 April 2026, despite being hospitalised, he formally booked the annual event at the House of Lords to celebrate Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s birthday — a fitting last act of devotion from a man who had made that annual gathering a cornerstone of his advocacy. It was the kind of quiet, determined courage that defined his life.
Lord Harries served as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dalits, and it was he who established the commemoration of Dr. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary at the House of Lords as a regular annual event — one that became a gathering point for academics, politicians, social activists, and followers of Dr. Ambedkar from across the United Kingdom and beyond.
As one fellow peer remarked in Parliament, “No one has done more to keep the issues of caste, untouchability and the Dalits before your Lordships’ House” than Lord Harries of Pentregarth. That tribute was not mere courtesy — it was the plain truth.
In July 2021, as Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dalits, Lord Harries opened a landmark debate in the House of Lords on India and Human Rights. He raised his deep concern over the rise of nationalism and the increasing denial of fundamental human rights, drawing the attention of Parliament to the targeting of journalists, the freezing of accounts of human rights groups, violence against Muslims and Christians, and above all the continued suffering of Dalits — people born into so-called “untouchability.”
He understood, with moral clarity, that faith demanded action. He spoke in Parliament that the human rights Dr. Ambedkar championed throughout his life must be protected -not as a political abstraction, but as a living, urgent cause. He cited Ambedkar’s own words: “A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society.” Lord Harries dedicated his public life to building exactly that.
Beyond his Dalit rights work, Lord Harries served as Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006, chaired the Council of Christians and Jews, was a founding member of the Oxford Abrahamic Group, and served on the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. A much-loved voice on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he broadcast Thought for the Day for more than fifty years. He was a man of towering intellect who wore it lightly, always in service of conscience rather than self-promotion.
Those who worked alongside him in the Ambedkarite community presented him with a signed copy of a book on the Ambedkarite movement in Britain, as a thank-you for all his support in raising the profile of Dr. Ambedkar in the UK Parliament. He received it with characteristic humility.
Lord Harries is mourned by all who believe that the dignity of every human being — regardless of caste, birth, or circumstance — is sacred and non-negotiable. He carried that belief into the chamber of the House of Lords, into his broadcasts, into his books, and into that final booking on 18 April, just days before his death.
The annual Dr. Ambedkar birthday celebration at the House of Lords — his celebration, his gift to the community — will continue. It is the most fitting monument he could have wished for.
Rest in peace, Lord Harries. Your work was a testament to the faith you professed and the justice you pursued.
References
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Harries,_Baron_Harries_of_Pentregarth
2.https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2014-11-26/debates/14112663000153/India
3.https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-07-22/debates/0047AD4F-56A7-4199-93BE-1CDE99EA4B5A/HumanRightsSituationInIndia
4.https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2149722
5.https://www.premierunbelievable.com/articles/the-late-queen-1926-2022-reflections-from-a-bishop-a-year-after-her-death/16286.article
6.https://dsnuk.org/2021/08/13/the-uk-house-of-lords-debate-on-india-and-human-rights/
