The '''Race Relations Board''' in the United Kingdom was established in 1966 following the passage of the Race Relations Act 1965.<ref name="Discrimination and race relations policy">{{cite web |title=Discrimination and race relations policy |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/discrimination-race-relations-policy.htm |website=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |accessdate=29 June 2019}}</ref> The act specified that the board should consist of a chairman and two other members.<ref name="RRA 1965">{{cite web |title=Race Relations Act 1965 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1965/73/pdfs/ukpga_19650073_en.pdf |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |accessdate=29 June 2019}}</ref> Its remit was to consider complaints under the Act.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_4457000/4457112.stm |title=On this day: 8 December 1965: New UK race law 'not tough enough' |publisher=BBC News | date=1965 |accessdate=10 January 2010}}</ref> It dealt with 327 complaints of racial discrimination in 1966.<ref name="Discrimination and race relations policy"/> The board was abolished by the Race Relations Act 1976, and its role was amalgamated with that of the Community Relations Commission to form the Commission for Racial Equality.<ref name="RRB Minutes and Papers">{{cite web |title=Race Relations Board: Minutes and Papers |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4102 |website=/discovery.nationalarchives |publisher=The National Archive |accessdate=29 June 2019 |language=English |date=}}</ref>
The first chairman of the board was Mark Bonham Carter. He visited the United States and Canada in November 1966 to draw lessons from the experiences of North America in handling racial discrimination. He stated that he viewed the existence of a significant African-American minority in itself as a "permanent historical problem" and opined that problems in the United Kingdom were "new".<ref name="Measures Against Discrimination">{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Mark Bonham |title=Measures Against Discrimination: The North American Scene |journal=Race |volume=9 |pages=1–26 |date=4 September 2016 |doi=10.1177/030639686700900101 |language=en}}</ref> Geoffrey Bindman, QC was the legal advisor to the board throughout its existence<ref name="Lessons">{{cite book |title=Lessons from the 1965 Race Relations Act |date=2015 |publisher=Runnymede |location=London |url=https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/Race%20Relations%20Act%20Perspectives%20report.pdf |accessdate=30 June 2019}}</ref> and subsequently with the Commission for Racial Equality.
The last chairman, from 1971 to 1977, was Geoffrey Masterman Wilson.<ref>"Sir Geoffrey Wilson" (obituary), ''The Daily Telegraph'', 13 July 2004, accessed 15 January 2026, [https://archive.today/20260115035817/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1466842/Sir-Geoffrey-Wilson.html archived] at archive.ph</ref>
The Board set up and co-ordinated seven regional conciliation committees whose role was to deal with complaints of discrimination. These committees set out reach a settlement of the difference between the complainant and the discriminator with an assurance from the latter that the problem would not arise again. However if no settlement was obtained, the matter would then be referred to the RRB and, if necessary, to the Attorney-General. There was no criminal sanction. Four cases were referred to the Attorney-General in the period up to 1968.<ref name="Origins">{{cite book |last1=Sooben |first1=Philip N. |title=The Origins of the Race Relations Act |date=1990 |publisher=Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick |location=Coventry |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/research/publications/research_papers/rp_no.12.pdf |accessdate=30 June 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:Race relations in the United Kingdom Category:Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom Category:1966 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:1976 disestablishments in the United Kingdom