Rosalind Howells, Baroness Howells of St Davids

Who is Rosalind Howells, Baroness Howells of St Davids?

Rosalind Patricia-Anne Howells, Baroness Howells of St Davids, OBE, is a Labour member of the House of Lords.

Having been awarded an OBE in the 1994 New Year's Honours, she was made a Life peer as Baroness Howells of St Davids, of Charlton in the London Borough of Greenwich on 21 July 1999. The name St Davids refers to the parish in Grenada where she was brought up, to the south-east of the Island.

Howells was educated at St Joseph's Convent, South West London College and City College in Washington, DC. In 1955, she married John Charles Howells and they have two daughters.

Her career background includes being the Director of the Greenwich Racial Equality Council as well as a Community and Equal Opportunities Worker. Baroness Howells is a trustee of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, and served as the unofficial advisor to the Lawrence family.

Howells was the first black woman to sit on the GLC's Training Board; the first female member of the Court of Governors of the University of Greenwich and was the Vice Chair at the London Voluntary Services Council.