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	{{Short description\|British diplomat}}		{{Short description\|British diplomat}}
	{{use dmy dates\|date=July ~~2022~~}}		{{use dmy dates\|date=July 2016}}
	'''William Peters''' {{post-nominals\|country=GBR\|size=100%\|CMG\|LVO\|MBE}} (28 September 1923 – 23 March 2014), also known as '''Bill Peters''', was a British diplomat who co-founded the [[Jubilee 2000]] [[Drop the Debt]] campaign.		'''William Peters''' {{post-nominals\|country=GBR\|size=100%\|CMG\|LVO\|MBE}} (28 September 1923 – 23 March 2014), also known as '''Bill Peters''', was a British diplomat who co-founded the [[Jubilee 2000]] [[Drop the Debt]] campaign.

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{{Short description|British diplomat}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
'''William Peters''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CMG|LVO|MBE}} (28 September 1923 – 23 March 2014), also known as '''Bill Peters''', was a British diplomat who co-founded the [[Jubilee 2000]] [[Drop the Debt]] campaign.

Peters was born at [[Morpeth, Northumberland]]. The highlight of his career after retirement was his co-founding, with [[Martin Dent (academic)|Martin Dent]] of [[Keele University]], of the [[Jubilee 2000]] Drop the Debt campaign, which went on to become the [[Make Poverty History]] movement.

He studied [[Greats]] at [[Balliol College, Oxford]],<ref name="autogenerated2002">{{Cite web
| title = Balliol College Annual Record 2002
| publisher = Balliol College
| url = http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/alumni-and-friends/balliol-college-annual-record-2002
| access-date = 9 April 2014
}}</ref> but his studies were interrupted by [[World War II]] when he saw active service with the 9th Ghurkha rifles. After the war he completed his undergraduate studies in 1948 and went on to further study at the [[London School of Economics|LSE]] and [[SOAS]]. Peters then joined the Colonial Service with a posting to [[Gold Coast (British colony)|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 Peters met Martin Dent of Keele University and realised that Martin shared his 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.<ref name="sojo">{{Cite web
| title = An Irresistible Force
| last = Wroe | first = Martin
| magazine = Sojourners Magazine
|url-access=subscription | url = http://sojo.net/magazine/2000/05/irresistible-force
| date = May–June 2000 | access-date = 8 April 2014
}}</ref> It was supported by the Anglican Church, with the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], [[George Carey]], addressing a rally in [[Trafalgar Square]] with Bill and Martin and making Jubilee 2000 the subject of his New Year's Day Millennium address on BBC 1.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Episcopal News Service Archives
| publisher = Archive.episcopalchurch.org
| url = http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/3577_93379_ENG_HTM.htm
| date = 7 January 1998 | access-date = 9 April 2014
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news
| title = Why a debt jubilee is not the answer to Britain's prayers
| last = Conway | first = Edmund
| newspaper = The Daily Telegraph
| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/6986140/Why-a-debt-jubilee-is-not-the-answer-to-Britains-prayers.html
| access-date = 9 April 2014
}}</ref>

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Gordon Brown]] also spoke at a rally in St Paul's Cathedral, strongly supporting the campaign and confirming the cancellation of all debts to the UK.<ref>{{Cite news
| title = Brown will cancel Third World debt - News
| author1-last = Grice | author1-first = Andrew
| newspaper = The Independent
| url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/brown-will-cancel-third-world-debt-1133042.html
| date = 18 December 1999 | access-date = 9 April 2014
}}</ref> Peters 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 large- scale demonstrations and twice enter [[The Guinness Book Of Records]], once for the largest petition and once for the most international petition.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = sdr dec montage
| publisher = Icsw.org
| url = http://www.icsw.org/publications/sdr/2000_dec/a-new-world.htm
| access-date = 9 April 2014
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = Bono Takes World-record-breaking Debt Petition to Millennium Summit
| publisher = NY Rock
| url = http://www.nyrock.com/worldbeat/09_2000/090600.asp
| date = 6 September 2000 | access-date = 9 April 2014
}}</ref> 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.

Peters received the [[Gandhi International Peace Award]] from the [[Gandhi Foundation]] in recognition of his efforts and of the success of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which 'made possible the provision of basic education and health-care to thousands of people.'<ref>{{Cite web
| title = William (Bill) Peters, co founder of Jubilee 2000 and joint recipient of the Gandhi Foundation Peace Award in 2000
| publisher = The Gandhi Foundation
| url = http://gandhifoundation.org/2014/04/08/william-bill-peters-co-founder-of-jubilee-2000-and-joint-recipient-of-the-gandhi-foundation-peace-award-in-2000/
| access-date = 9 April 2014
| archive-date = 22 April 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160422023010/https://gandhifoundation.org/2014/04/08/william-bill-peters-co-founder-of-jubilee-2000-and-joint-recipient-of-the-gandhi-foundation-peace-award-in-2000/
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2002" />

He died on 23 March 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/tributes-paid-dedicated-campaigner-bill-7005800|title=Tributes paid to dedicated campaigner Bill Peters - The Journal|website=www.thejournal.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uk.iofc.org/william-peters-co-founder-jubilee-2000-dies|title=William Peters, co-founder of Jubilee 2000, dies | IofC UK|website=uk.iofc.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tibet-foundation.org/news/story/20140410-in-memory-of-bill-pet |title=10 Apr 2014: In Memory of Bill Peters - Tibet Foundation |website=www.tibet-foundation.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424093933/http://www.tibet-foundation.org/news/story/20140410-in-memory-of-bill-pet |archive-date=2014-04-24}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/tribute-to-debt-relief-champion-1-6565493 |title=Tribute to debt relief champion - Morpeth Herald |website=www.morpethherald.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425004302/http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/tribute-to-debt-relief-champion-1-6565493 |archive-date=2014-04-25}} </ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Footer Gandhi International Peace Award recipients}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, William}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Uruguay]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Malawi]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Gurkha Rifles soldiers]]
[[Category:British expatriates in Ghana]]

William Peters (diplomat) - Revision history

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