Steven Ward

He was the "other man" in the Profumo scandal of the early 1960s (see post of 11/3/06).  I well remember at the time that the general feeling - certainly among my family and acquaintances - was that he had been "hung out to dry" by the Establishment of the day, who needed someone to be held responsible for what had happened, and more generally for what was perceived as a widespread breakdown in public morality (this was of course the start of the "swinging sixties").  So Ward, who had introduced Profumo to Christine Keeler was charged with living on immoral earnings, and seeing which way the wind was blowing, chose to take his own life before he could be convicted.  There are moves afoot to have him pardoned, but as with Alan Turing (see post of 6/3/12) the problem is that we are using modern attitudes and views to criticise past decisions.  Thing is - where do you stop?  What about those who were burned at the stake as witches?