Anthony Freire Marreco

Anthony Freire Marreco, prosecuting barrister at Nuremburg and human rights campaigner who helped found Amnesty International, was born on August 9th, 1915 and died on June 4th, 2006 aged 90.

Educated at Westminster School, Anthony Marreco studied at RADA and enjoyed a brief career on the stage, before taking up legal studies in 1938.

Anthony was commissioned in the RNVR in 1940, serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Fleet Air Arm until 1946, seeing action in various theatres and serving on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet. Anthony was called to the Bar in 1941.

Nuremberg

Following demobilisation, Anthony Marreco was junior counsel to the British Delegation at the Nuremberg Trials. Anthony was present at the initial cross-examination, trials and final sentencing in November 1946 of the Nazi leaders. Anthony later became Director of Governmental Structure, Control Commission for Germany in the late 1940s, assisting in the creation of new democratic and legal institutions.

In the early 1950s Anthony Marreco unsuccessfully ran as a Liberal Parliamentary candidate for Wells (1950) and Goole (1951). He went on to be an investment banker with S G Warburg, a director of publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson and a farmer in Ireland.

Amnesty International

In 1960 Anthony Marreco was a leading member of the group which helped Peter Benenson to found what became Amnesty International, serving as Honorary Treasurer from 1968 until 1971. He personally confronted the Greek Colonels over allegations of the use of torture and curtailing of civil liberties in 1968, but resigned in 1971 over Amnesty International's refusal to investigate reports of torture by British troops in Northern Ireland. Read more about Anthony's time at Amnesty International here...

Ever the campaigner, Anthony Marreco espoused a number of causes, including variously the Irish salmon fishing industry (Chairman of the Foyle Fisheries Commission in Donegal), the affairs of the Residents' Association of Mayfair, the revival of Shepherd Market in London and the promotion of local crafts in Aldbourne, founding the Aldbourne Craft Trust (granted charitable status just days after his death).

Anthony Marreco was married four times, twice to Regina (Gina), who survives him. In his last ten years he retired with Gina to Aldbourne in Wiltshire, where he is buried in the local churchyard of St. Michael's.