Ulric Cross
*Ulric Cross was born on this date in 1917. He was a Black British jurist, diplomat, and Royal Air Force (RAF) navigator.
Philip Louis Ulric Cross was born in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, to Reginald Rufus and Maud Iris Cross. He was the second child in a family of nine. At 11, he came first in Trinidad's Government Exhibition Scholarship Examination, qualifying for five years of free secondary education and attending St Mary's College. He was devastated by his mother's death when he was just 13 years old.
After completing five years of college education, he left school. His first job was as a copy editor with the Trinidad Guardian. Then, he worked for about four years as a clerk to Leo Pujadas, Solicitor. When Cross turned 21, he joined the Civil Service and worked with the Trinidad Government Railway for a while. In 1941, at 24, Cross left Trinidad to join Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command during World War II as squadron leader.
In June 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; in January 1945, he received the Distinguished Service Order. Cross was a member of the elite Pathfinder Force, which perfected techniques for precision main-force bombing. As navigator of a Mosquito fighter-bomber, Cross flew 80 missions over Germany and occupied Europe. He helped to prevent some 200 bombers from being shot down in a raid over Germany in 1943.
After the war, Cross studied law, and he started practice under the aegis of the Middle Temple, London, on January 26, 1949. He fulfilled an international career as a jurist across Africa and within Trinidad and Tobago. He also served as a diplomat for Trinidad and Tobago to the United Kingdom. Cross had two daughters, Nicola Cross, a filmmaker, and Susan Woodford-Hollick, an arts administrator — and a son, Richard Finch, an educator who works in South Africa.
Ulric Cross died, aged 96, on October 4, 2013, at his home on Dere Street, Port of Spain, where he lived with his daughter Nicola in retirement. Cross's life and career achievements are featured in a feature film that has won several international awards. The film is Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross first released in 2019.
