ROSALIND HOWELLS

Rosalind Howells was born in Grenada in 1931 and settled in Britain at the age of 20. She studied at St Joseph’s Convent in London, the South West London College and City College before making her mark at the Greenwich Council for Racial Equality, where she became director.

She has worked tirelessly in race relations and community services and was able to use her influence on behalf of the New Cross Fire victims and the Roland Adams and the Stephen Lawrence family campaigns. Roland and Stephen were both black youngsters who became victims of racist murders. She subsequently became a trustee of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

It was her contribution to the development of racial equality policies and community projects in Britain that led to her being awarded an OBE in December 1993. In 1999, prime minister Tony Blair appointed her a life peer and she became Baroness Howells of St David’s of Charlton in Greenwich. The St David’s of the title refers to the Grenadian parish where she grew up.

She is a trustee of the Jason Roberts Foundation, which aims to provide a range of sporting opportunities for children and young people in the UK and Grenada.

In March 2009 she was inaugurated as chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire in Luton. Baroness Howells is a trustee of Grenada’s St George’s University’s UK Trust and serves on the board of the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation, the university’s research wing.