Wolfenden Report - The Committee

The Committee

The committee of 15 (three women and 12 men) was led by John Wolfenden (1906–1985) who had previously been headmaster of Uppingham and Shrewsbury and in 1950 became Vice Chancellor of the University of Reading. He later became Director of the British Museum.

In addition to the chairman, the committee members were the following:

• James Adair OBE, former Procurator-Fiscal for Glasgow
• Mrs Mary G. Cohen, vice-president of the City of Glasgow Girl Guides, Chairwoman of the Scottish Association of Girls' Clubs
• Dr Desmond Curran MB FCP DPM, senior Psychiatrist at St George's Hospital, London and psychiatric consultant to the Royal Navy
• Rev Canon V.A. Demant, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford (an Anglo-Catholic)
• Mr Justice Diplock QC, Recorder of Oxford and High Court judge
• Sir Hugh Linstead, Conservative MP for Putney, and pharmaceutical chemist
• Most Hon. the Marquess of Lothian, a Foreign Office minister
• Mrs Kathleen Lovibond CBE, chairwoman of the Uxbridge juvenile Magistrates' Court and member of the Conservative women's organisation
• Victor Mishcon, solicitor and Labour member of the London County Council
• Goronwy Rees, Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
• Rev. R.F.V. Scott, Presbyterian Minister of St Columba's Church, London (Church of Scotland)
• Lady Stopford; Doctor, Magistrate and wife of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester
• William T. Wells, Labour MP for Walsall North and Barrister
• Dr Joseph Whitby, general practitioner with psychiatric experience

The committee first met on 15 September 1954 and met on 62 days, 32 of which were used for interviewing witnesses. Wolfenden suggested at an early stage that for the sake of the ladies in the room, that they use the terms Huntley & Palmers after the biscuit manufacturers - Huntleys for homosexuals, and Palmers for prostitutes. Evidence was heard from police and probation officers, psychiatrists, religious leaders, and gay men whose lives had been affected by the law.

Getting gay men to give evidence was of considerable difficulty for the committee: Wolfenden considered placing an advert in a newspaper or magazine, but the committee instead decided to locate three men willing to give evidence: Peter Wildeblood, Carl Winter and Patrick Trevor-Roper. Wildeblood had been convicted and sent to prison, while Winter and Trevor-Roper were more respectable: Winter was director of the Fitzwilliam Museum and Trevor-Roper was a distinguished eye surgeon and brother of the famous historian Hugh Trevor-Roper. In order to protect their identities, Trevor-Roper was referred to as the "Doctor" while Winter was referred to as "Mr White".