Adrian Cola Rienzi

Adrian Cola Rienzi ORTT (born Krishna Deonarine Tiwari on 19 January 1905, died Desh Bandu (Friend of the Nation)[1] on July 21, 1972) was an Indo-Trinidadian trade unionist, politician and lawyer.

Life

Krishna Deonarine Tiwari[1] was born in Palmyra, Princes Town, Victoria County, Trinidad and Tobago. His family originated from India. His grandfather Chaithnath Tiwari has fled Bihar, India in order to escape British vengeance for participating in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. In Trinidad, his grandfather had married Lakshmin, the granddaughter of a general in the army of Babu Veer Kunwar Singh, who also had participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[2] His father, Deonarine Tiwari, squandered the inheritance from his grandfather, Chaithnath Tiwari, and was forced to move the family to his grandmother's shop on Coffee Street in San Fernando. Krishna attended Naparima College, but his family's financial problems forced him to drop out during Form 3. He found employment with J.C. Hobson, a prominent lawyer. Hobson encouraged Krishna intellectually and lent him books from which he learned about Cola di Rienzo, fourteenth century Italian activist and patriot. In 1927, Krishna changed his name to Adrian Cola Rienzi, naming himself after British magistrate Adrian Clarke and Cola di Rienzo.

He founded both the Oilfields Workers Trade Union and the All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union, and was involved in the establishment of three other trade unions. In 1936, after breaking with Arthur Cipriani and his Trinidad Labour Party, Rienzi founded his own party, the Trinidad Citizens League, which was based on the workers in the sugar belt in mid and south Trinidad.[3] He was also the first president of the Trinidad and Tobago Trades Union Council, from its foundation in 1938 until 1944. In addition to working for workers rights, Rienzi also worked for the rights of Indo-Trinidadians. He helped secure more employment of Indo-Trinidadians in the public service, the right to cremation, the recognition of Hindu and Muslim marriages and the establishment of schools by non-Christian religious groups. Rienzi also served four terms on the San Fernando Borough Council (three as Mayor of San Fernando) and represented Victoria on the Legislative Council from 1937-1944. He then worked in the public service as a Crown Counsel.

The Rienzi-Kirton Highway in San Fernanado is named partly in honour of him.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "12 East Indian Trinbagonians who helped transform Trinidad and Tobago". www.looptt.com. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  2. ↑ Raghuram, Parvati; Sahoo, Ajaya Kumar; Maharaj, Brij; Sangha, Dave (16 September 2008). Tracing an Indian Diaspora: Contexts, Memories, Representations. SAGE Publications. pp. 102–106. ISBN 978-81-321-0039-3.
  3. ↑ Anthony, Michael (1997). Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago. London: Scarecrow Press. p. 480. ISBN 0-8108-3173-2.
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