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

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.

The son of a village policeman in Styal, Cheshire, Waite was educated at Stockton Heath County Secondary School where he became head boy.

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.

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.

This position required Waite to master psychological T-group methods, with the aim of promoting increased active involvement from the laity.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[15] 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.

[19] 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.