Lord Montagu's sister wed to Viscount Garnock, despite the scandal, in peerstudded ceremonies.

W. J. Field resigns seat in Parliament, after party caucus.

SUNDAY TIMES Editorial: "Events have made this problem more widely discussed than ever before . . . No doubt that homosexuality is widespread, that it extends to people in high positions . . . and that its eruption in such offenses as importuning, corrupting boys or public indecency is today a serious and growing criminal problem."

Membership lists of several West End drinking clubs are reportedly being scrutinized by Scotland Yard.

DAILY MAIL: "Homosexuality spreading like a foul growth in our midst."

NEW STATESMAN & NATION Editorial by Kingsley Martin: "I am instinctively repelled by homosexuality," but "we are perhaps especially intolerant of the homosexual because . . . there is unconsciously in all men and women some ingredient of suppressed homosexual feeling.

"It may be of some help to discover how many distinguished names in our day, and in the history of mankind, have found their affections centered on members of their own sex.

"It is a social evil but its bad effects are greatly aggravated by our savage criminal law . . . Everything possible should be done to minimize the social effect of homosexuality . . . by a more sensible educational system, and by psychological treatment at an early stage for such homosexuals as may be aided... There should be no penalties attached to adult males consorting together who, in private, decide to live a homosexual life . . .I believe there are Members of Parliament who'd be willing to make this change in the law." In the same publication, dramatist J. B. Priestley discussed the "Invert's Block" as one among many cliques influencing modern thought and action, and novelist E. M. Forster deplored the insecurity of homosexuals under present unfair laws, but felt basic legal change unlikely.

Management of various West End theatres request actors not to visit certain public-houses and drinking clubs.

Justice Hallett: ". . . a great joy to me and other judges when some humane method of dealing with homosexuals is devised, and when more can be done than simply locking up the offenders."

NOVEMBER, 1953

NEWS OF THE WORLD: Four men convicted at Falmouth, Devon, as a "homosexual gang." 14 others dealt with. Sentences: 12 to 5 years. Viscount Samuel in House of Lords: Extolling English nation for "patriotism and courage never before known in history" and for "an electorate more serious and intelligent than any other has ever been," the aged Liberal Party leader warned, "I do not wish to indulge in any sweeping generalizations, but the pockets of crime and immorality in our great cities are a grave blot on our civilization.

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