Dame Rachel Waterhouse, DBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 2 January 1923) is a local historian of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 and the West Midlands

West Midlands (region)

The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...

 of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, consumer affairs activist and writer.

She has been past chairman of Consumers' Association

Consumers' Association

The Consumers' Association is the umbrella organisation that houses the trading arm Which? Ltd. The Consumers' Association is a charity, registered in England and Wales No 296072. Which? Ltd is its wholly owned trading subsidiary....

, and a member of the National Consumer Council and of the Health and Safety Commission

Health and Safety Commission

The Health and Safety Commission , was a United Kingdom non-departmental public body. The HSC was created by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 . The Commission consisted of a chairman and between six and nine other people, appointed by the appropriate Secretary of State, latterly the...

. She was a member of the group which resurrected the Lunar Society

Lunar Society

The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...

 around 1990 and became its founder Chairman. She was president of the Birmingham and Midland Institute

Birmingham and Midland Institute

The Birmingham and Midland Institute , now on Margaret Street in the city centre of Birmingham, England was a pioneer of adult scientific and technical education and today offers Arts and Science lectures, exhibitions and concerts. It is a registered charity...

for 1992.

Written works

• Birmingham and Midland Institute, 1854-1954
• Children in hospital : a hundred years of child care in Birmingham
• A hundred years of engineering craftsmanship, a short history tracing the adventurous development of Tangye's Limited, Smethwick, 1857-1957
• King Edward VI High School for Girls, 1883-1983
• Six King Edward schools, 1883-1983
• The 1990s and a Christian response to consumerism
• The Birmingham and Midland Institute, the Institute's contributions to Birmingham 1855-2005

Joint authorship:

• How Birmingham became a great city (jointly with John Whybrow)
• Birmingham one hundred years ago - social and political life and cultural life (jointly with Charles Parish)