Wolfenden, Lord (1906-1985), was a British educator. He attracted the greatest attention as chairman of the Royal Commission on Homosexuality and Prostitution. In 1957, the commission published the Report of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, also known as the Wolfenden Report. It recommended that “homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private be no longer a criminal offence.”
John Wolfenden was born on June 26, 1906, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Wakefield School and the Queen’s College, Oxford University. Wolfenden became headmaster of Uppingham School in 1934 and of Shrewsbury School in 1944. He served as vice chancellor of Reading University from 1950 to 1963 and as chairman of the University Grants Committee from 1963 to 1968. Between 1969 and 1973, Wolfenden was director and principal librarian of the British Museum. He became president of Chelsea College, University of London, in 1973.
Wolfenden was knighted in 1956. In 1974, he became Baron Wolfenden of Westcott. His published works include Education in a Changing World (1951). Wolfenden died on Jan. 18, 1985.
