Terry Waite

Last updated

Sir
Terry Waite
KCMG CBE
Terry Waite.jpg
Waite in September 2016
Born
Terence Hardy Waite

(1939-05-31) 31 May 1939 (age 85)
Bollington, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupations
  • Humanitarian
  • Author
  • Negotiator
Organisations

Sir Terence Hardy Waite KCMG CBE (born 31 May 1939 [1] ) is an English human rights activist and author.

Contents

Waite was the Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs for the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of England, he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages, including the journalist John McCarthy. He was himself kidnapped and held captive from 1987 to 1991. [2]

After his release he wrote Taken on Trust (1994), a memoir about his experiences, and became involved in humanitarian causes and charitable work.

Early life and career

The son of a village policeman in Styal, Cheshire, Waite was educated at Stockton Heath County Secondary School where he became head boy. [3] [4] Although his parents were only nominally religious, he showed a commitment to Christianity from an early age and later became a Quaker and an Anglican.

Waite joined the Grenadier Guards at Caterham Barracks, but an allergy to a dye in the uniform obliged him to depart after a few months. [5] He then considered a monastic life, but instead joined the Church Army, a social welfare organisation of the Anglican Church modelled on the Salvation Army, undergoing training and studies in London. While he was held captive in the 1980s, many Church Army officers wore a simple badge with the letter "H" on it to remind people that one of their members was still a hostage and was being supported in prayer daily by them and many others.

In 1963, Waite was appointed education adviser to the Anglican Bishop of Bristol, Oliver Tomkins, and assisted with Tomkins's implementation of the SALT (Stewardship and Laity Training) programme in the diocese, along with Basil Moss. This position required Waite to master psychological T-group methods, with the aim of promoting increased active involvement from the laity. During this time he married Helen Frances Watters. [6] As a student, Waite was greatly influenced by the teachings of Ralph Baldry. [7]

In 1969, he moved to Uganda where he worked as Provincial Training Adviser to Erica Sabiti, the first African Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi and, in that capacity, travelled extensively throughout East Africa. Together with his wife and their four children, Waite witnessed the Idi Amin coup in Uganda and he and his wife narrowly escaped death on several occasions. From his office in Kampala, Waite founded the Southern Sudan Project and was responsible for developing aid and development programmes for the region. [8]

His next post was in Rome where, from 1972, he worked as an international consultant to the Medical Mission Sisters, a Roman Catholic order seeking to adapt to the leadership reforms of Vatican II. From this base, he travelled extensively throughout Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, conducting and advising on programmes concerned with institutional change and development, inter-cultural relations, group and inter-group dynamics and a broad range of development issues connected with health and education. [8]

Archbishop's special envoy

Waite returned to the United Kingdom in 1978, where he took a job with the British Council of Churches. In 1980, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, appointed him the Archbishop of Canterbury's Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs on the recommendation of Tomkins and Bishop John Howe. [9] [10] Based at Lambeth Palace, Waite again travelled extensively throughout the world and had a responsibility for the Archbishop's diplomatic and ecclesiastical exchanges. [10] He arranged and travelled with the Archbishop on the first ever visit of an Archbishop of Canterbury to China and had responsibility for travels to Australia, New Zealand, Burma, the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and South Africa. [4] [11]

Hostage negotiator

In 1980, Waite successfully negotiated the release of several hostages in Iran: Iraj Mottahedeh (Anglican priest in Esfahan), Dimitri Bellos (diocesan officer), Nosrat Sharifian (Anglican priest in Kerman), Fazeli (church member), Jean Waddell (who was secretary to the Iranian Anglican bishop Hassan Dehqani-Tafti), Canon John Coleman and Coleman's wife. [12] On 10 November 1984, he negotiated with Colonel Gaddafi [13] for the release of the four remaining British hostages held in the Libyan Hostage Situation, Michael Berdinner, Alan Russell, Malcolm Anderson and Robin Plummer and was again successful.

Terry Waite in 1985 Terry Waite Spec Envoy to Arbshp Canterbury.jpg
Terry Waite in 1985

From 1985, Waite became involved in hostage negotiation in Lebanon and assisted in negotiations which secured the release of Lawrence Jenco and David Jacobsen. [14] American officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of Iran with a view to obtaining Iranian help in the release of hostages held in Lebanon. Waite's use of an American helicopter to travel secretly between Cyprus and Lebanon and his appearance with Lt Colonel Oliver North, meant that he was compromised when the Irangate scandal broke in 1986. Against advice, Waite felt a need to demonstrate his continuing trust and integrity, and his commitment to the remaining hostages. [15]

Captivity and release

Waite arrived in Beirut on 12 January 1987 with the intention of negotiating with the Islamic Jihad Organization, which was holding hostages, including Terry A. Anderson and Thomas Sutherland. [16] On 20 January 1987, he agreed to meet the captors of the hostages as he was promised safe conduct to visit the hostages, who, he was told, were ill. The group broke trust and took him hostage on 20 January 1987. [17] [18] Waite remained in captivity for 1,763 days, the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement. He was released on 18 November 1991. [19]

Release and afterwards

Following his release, he was elected a fellow commoner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he wrote his first book, Taken on Trust (1994), a memoir of his captivity in Lebanon. It became a best-seller in the UK and internationally. [20] [21]

Waite decided to devote himself to studying, writing, lecturing and humanitarian activities. His second book, Footfalls in Memory, a further meditation on his captivity in Lebanon, was published in the UK in 1995 and also became a best-seller. His most recent book, published in October 2000, Travels with a Primate, is a humorous account of his journeys with his former boss, Robert Runcie. Waite has also contributed articles to many journals and periodicals, ranging from Reader's Digest to the Kipling Journal, and has also supplied articles and forewords to many books. [22]

In 2004, Waite returned to Beirut for the first time since his release. He told the BBC, "If you are bitter, it will eat you up and do more damage to you than to the people who have hurt you." [23]

On 31 March 2007, Waite offered to travel to Iran to negotiate with those holding British sailors and marines seized by Iran in disputed waters on 23 March 2007. [24]

Waite travelled again to Beirut in December 2012 to reconcile with his captors and lay to rest what he described as the ghosts of the past. [25]

Charity work

In January 1996, Waite became patron of the Warrington Male Voice Choir in recognition of the humanitarian role adopted by the choir following the Warrington bomb attacks. [26] Since then, he has appeared with the choir for performances in prisons in UK and Ireland to assist in rehabilitation programmes. Prison concerts have become a regular feature of the choir's Christmas activities.

Waite is co-founder and president of the charity Y Care International (YMCA's international development and relief agency) and in 2004, he founded Hostage UK, an organisation designed to give support to hostage families. [20] [27] Waite became president of Emmaus UK, a charity for formerly homeless people, shortly after his release from captivity in 1991. [28] [29]

He is patron of several organisations including Storybook Dads, a UK charity which allows prisoners to send recordings of themselves reading bedtime stories to their own children, to help stay connected to some of the 200,000 children affected by parental imprisonment each year. He is a patron of Habitat for Humanity Great Britain, the Romany Society and Strode Park Foundation in Kent. [29] [30] [31] [32]

Honours and awards

In 1991, following his release Waite was elected a fellow commoner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. [20] In 1992, Waite received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship. [33] In the same year, Durham University made him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law. [34] In 2001, Anglia Ruskin University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Philosophy. [35] On 30 May 2009, at a ceremony in Ely Cathedral, the Open University made him an honorary D.Univ. [36] He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Chester in 2009. [37]

In 2006 he was elected a visiting fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. [38]

Waite was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to charity and humanitarian work. [39] [40]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Islamic Jihad Organization was a Lebanese Shia militia known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War.

The Organization of the Oppressed on Earth is a group that claimed responsibility for kidnappings, bombings, and executions in Lebanon in the 1980s. It was considered a precursor to, or another name for, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.

Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine (IJLP) was a Lebanese Shia group that claimed credit for the January 24, 1987 abduction of three American and one Indian professors – Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill, Mithaleshwar Singh – from Beirut University College in West Beirut. They were eventually released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imad Mughniyeh</span> Lebanese militant leader (1962–2008)

Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, also known by his nom de guerre al-Hajj Radwan, was a Lebanese militant leader who was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. Information about Mughniyeh is limited, but he is believed to have been Hezbollah's chief of staff and understood to have overseen Hezbollah's military, intelligence, and security apparatuses. He was one of the main founders of Hezbollah in the 1980s, and was described as a skilled military tactician and highly elusive figure. He was often referred to as an ‘untraceable ghost’.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry A. Anderson</span> American journalist (1947–2024)

Terry Alan Anderson was an American journalist and combat veteran. He reported for the Associated Press. In 1985, he was taken hostage by Shia Hezbollah militants of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Lebanon and held until 1991. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Jenco</span> American Catholic priest and hostage (1934–1996)

Lawrence Martin Jenco, OSM, was an American Catholic priest famous for being held hostage in Beirut, Lebanon by Islamic radicals. He was held captive for 564 days before being released and allowed to return to the United States. He was a member of the Servite Order.

John Patrick McCarthy is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster, and one of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis. McCarthy was the United Kingdom's longest-held hostage in Lebanon, where he was a prisoner for more than five years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Runcie</span> Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991

Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991, having previously been Bishop of St Albans. He travelled the world widely to spread ecumenicism and worked to foster relations with both Protestant and Catholic churches across Europe. He was a leader of the Liberal Anglo-Catholicism movement. He came under attack for expressing compassion towards bereaved Argentines after the Falklands War of 1982, and generated controversy by supporting women's ordination.

Brian Keenan is an Irish writer whose work includes the book An Evil Cradling, an account of the four and a half years he spent as a hostage in Beirut, Lebanon from 11 April 1986 to 24 August 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Sutherland (academic)</span> American academic and hostage (1931–2016)

Thomas Sutherland, Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985. He was released on November 18, 1991, at the same time as Terry Waite, having been held hostage for 2,353 days, nearly six and a half years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Weir</span> American missionary and hostage (1923–2016)

Benjamin Weir was an American hostage in Lebanon in 1984–85.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William R. Higgins</span> United States Marine Corps officer (1945–1989)

William Richard Higgins was a United States Marine Corps colonel who was captured in Lebanon in 1988 while serving on a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission. He was held hostage, tortured and eventually murdered by his captors.

David Stuart Dodge was an American politician and university president. He was the Vice-President for Administration (1979–83), Acting President (1981–82) and President (1996–97) of the American University of Beirut (AUB).

The 1983–1988 Kuwait terror attacks were various pro-Iran terror attacks during the Iran–Iraq War. 25 people were killed and more than 175 people were wounded. Following the attacks, Kuwait's economy significantly suffered.

The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were represented. At least eight hostages died in captivity; some were murdered, while others died from lack of medical attention. During the fifteen years of the Lebanese civil war an estimated 17,000 people disappeared after being abducted.

Jackie Mann, was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, who in later life was kidnapped by Islamists in Lebanon in May 1989 and held hostage for more than two years.

Jonathan Wright is a British journalist and literary translator.

The Libyan hostage situation began on the morning of the murder of police constable Fletcher, 17 April 1984 and lasted until 5 February 1985. In accordance with the hostage release agreement, reporting on the incident was restricted until the fall of Gaddafi in 2011.

Michel Seurat was a sociologist and researcher at the CNRS, born 14 August 1947 in Tunisia and died in Beirut in 1986.

Hostages is a 1992 American drama film directed by David Wheatley and written by Bernard MacLaverty. The film stars Kathy Bates, Colin Firth, Ciarán Hinds, Natasha Richardson, Jay O. Sanders, Josef Sommer and Harry Dean Stanton. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on ITV on September 23, 1992, and in the United States on HBO on February 20, 1993.

References

  1. ↑ "Hostage Waite Gets Belated Birthday Wish". Los Angeles Times. 9 June 1989. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015. Friends and colleagues of Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite on Thursday sent him a belated birthday wish published in the independent newspaper An Nahar. Waite, who was kidnapped in Lebanon two and a half years ago, spent his 50th birthday on May 31 in captivity
  2. ↑ "Kidnapped Waite returns to Beirut". BBC News . 9 December 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  3. ↑ Padman, Interview by Tony (13 May 2016). "Terry Waite: 'My children can be extremely stubborn. They get it from me'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 Waite, Terry (8 September 2016). Taken on Trust. John Murray Press. ISBN   978-1-4736-2757-4.
  5. ↑ Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd (December 1993). ThirdWay. Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. p. 28.
  6. ↑ Trevor Barnes (1 June 1992). Terry Waite . Bethany House Publishers. p.  54. ISBN   978-1-55661-303-6.
  7. ↑ Terry Waite (8 September 2016). Taken on Trust. John Murray Press. p. 228. ISBN   978-1-4736-2757-4.
  8. 1 2 "Terry Waite not bitter about nearly 5 years in captivity". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Waite, Terry (8 September 2016). Taken on Trust. John Murray Press. ISBN   978-1-4736-2757-4.
  10. 1 2 "Episcopal News Service: Press Release # 80150". www.episcopalarchives.org. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "AROUND THE WORLD; Anglican Prelate To Make a Visit to China". The New York Times . 21 December 1981. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  12. ↑ Waite, Terry (8 September 2016). Taken on Trust. John Murray Press. ISBN   978-1-4736-2757-4.
  13. ↑ "I remember: Terry Waite - Reader's Digest". www.readersdigest.co.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  14. ↑ "Lawrence Jenco, Roman Catholic Priest Held Hostage in Lebanon". AP NEWS. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  15. ↑ "Runcie 'considered sacking Waite before hostage trip'". The Independent. 19 October 1992. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  16. ↑ Terry Waite. Taken on Trust. Hodder & Stoughton, 1993. p. 3,. ISBN   978-0-340-62452-4.
  17. ↑ Ap (1 February 1987). "Abductors in Beirut Demand That Israel Free 400 Prisoners". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  18. ↑ "1991: Church envoy Waite freed in Beirut". 18 November 1991. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  19. ↑ "From the archive: Bells ring nationwide to welcome Terry Waite". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  20. 1 2 3 "Terry Waite - ARU". aru.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  21. ↑ "Former hostage Terry Waite on why he seeks solitude in Suffolk" . Financial Times. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  22. ↑ "Our President". Open Door Newmarket. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  23. ↑ "Ex-hostage Waite free from bitterness". BBC. 19 February 2004.
  24. ↑ "Bush attacks Iran over captives". BBC News. 1 April 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
  25. ↑ "Terry Waite returns to Lebanon 25 years after kidnapping". The Guardian. London. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  26. ↑ "Concert to thank choir patron Terry Waite". Warrington Worldwide. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  27. ↑ Cooper, Ben (10 January 2019). "The Interview: Lara Symons, Director of Hostage International". Travel Risk Media. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  28. ↑ "Our leaders & ambassadors". Emmaus UK. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  29. 1 2 "Ex-hostage Terry Waite reflects on 20 years of freedom". BBC News. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  30. ↑ "Our patrons". Storybook Dads. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  31. ↑ "Membership | The Romany Society" . Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  32. ↑ Strode Park Foundation Annual Report 2019-2020. p. 12.
  33. ↑ "Four Freedoms Awards". Roosevelt Institute. Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  34. ↑ "Honorary Degrees". University of Durham. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  35. ↑ "Terry Waite CBE Honorary Doctor of Philosophy, 2001". Anglia Ruskin University. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  36. ↑ "Conferment of Honorary Degrees and Presentation of Graduates (2009)" (PDF). The Open University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2010.
  37. ↑ "Universities Week - Monday 13th June 2011". Chester.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  38. ↑ "Speakers – Terry Waite". Edinburgh International Science Festival. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  39. ↑ "No. 64082". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2023. p. B3.
  40. ↑ Hennessy, Ted (16 June 2023). "Former hostage Terry Waite says honour is 'peak' achievement". The Independent. Retrieved 16 June 2023.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.