Background
Peters, William was born on September 28, 1923 in Morpeth, England. Son of John William and Louise (Woodhouse) Peters.
Peters, William was born on September 28, 1923 in Morpeth, England. Son of John William and Louise (Woodhouse) Peters.
He studied Greats at Balliol College Oxford But his studies were interrupted by World World War II when he saw active service with the 9th Ghurkha rifles. After the war he completed his studies in 1948 and went on to further study at the London School of Economics and SOAS.
The highlight of his career after retirement was his co-founding, with Martin Dent of Keele University, of the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign, which went on to become the Make Poverty History movement. Bill then joined the Colonial Service with a posting to the Gold Coast in 1950 where he worked to prepare for the transition to independence. In 1977, he became British Ambassador to Uruguay.
He went on to work as High Commissioner in Malawi before retiring from the Foreign Office in 1983.
A few years after retirement Bill met Martin Dent of Keele University and realised that Martin shared Bill’s concern at what they considered to be unsustainable levels of third world debt. They co-founded a campaign to write off third-world debt in time for the Millennium.
They called this Jubilee 2000 in reference to the Old Testament Jubilee requirement to cancel debts every seven years. United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown also spoke at a rally in Street Paul’s Cathedral, strongly supporting the campaign and confirming the cancellation of all debts to the United Kingdom. Bill continued to play an active role in the Drop the Debt campaign in the lead up to the Millennium, seeing it grow into a series of largescale demonstrations and twice enter The Guinness Book Of Records, once for the largest petition and once for the most international petition.
The campaign launched major demonstrations at every G8 summit from 1998 in Birmingham to Cologne and Genoa with a few people even travelling to Okinawa in Japan.
He died March 23, 2014.
Chairman Lepra, London, 1984-1992, Tibet Society United Kingdom and Tibet Fund, London, 1986-1993. Member Debt Crisis Network, 1993-1995. Co-chair Jubilee 2000, 1993-1995, vice president, board member Jubilee 2000 Coalition, 1996-2000.
Chair governors, governor Walmer (Deal, Kent, England) School, 1996-2000. President Downs Branch Royal British Legion, Deal, since 1985. Chairman council and executive committee United Society Propag.
Gospel, 1990-1993, vice president, since 1994, governor, since 1997. Captain British Army, 1942-1946. Fellow British Institute Management, Royal Society for Arts.
Member United Oxford and Cambridge Club, Royal Society Asian Affairs (editorial board since 1990), Royal Commonwealth Society.
Married Catherine Bertha Bailey, January 1, 1944 (deceased December 1998).