| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Wedderburn of Charlton | |
| Office6: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start6: | 20 July 1977 |
| Term End6: | 9 March 2012 Life Peerage |
| Birth Date: | 13 April 1927 |
| Birth Place: | London, United Kingdom |
| Death Place: | London, United Kingdom |
| Party: | Labour |
| Alma Mater: | Queens' College, Cambridge, London School of Economics |
| Spouse: | Nina Salaman (div.) Dorothy Cole (div.) Frances Knight |
| Children: | Sarah David Lucy Jonathan |
| Nationality: | British |
Kenneth William Wedderburn, Baron Wedderburn of Charlton, (13 April 1927 - 9 March 2012) was a British politician and member of the House of Lords, affiliated with the Labour Party. He briefly became a crossbench member, citing his dislike of Blairism and 'the smell' of cash for questions.[1] He re-took the Labour Party whip in 2007.[2] [3] He worked at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics, where he was the Cassel Professor of Commercial Law from 1964 until his retirement in 1992.[4]
After graduating in law from Queens' College, Cambridge, Wedderburn served in the RAF for two years. He had a long career in labour law, and on 20 July 1977 was created a life peer with the title Baron Wedderburn of Charlton, of Highgate in Greater London (Wedderburn chose this title as a tribute to his favourite football team Charlton Athletic F.C.[5] [6]).
He was an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. Wedderburn also served as a key member of the 1977 Bullock Committee.[4]
In 1951 he married Nina Salaman, a medical researcher from a family of scientists and named after a grandmother. They had three children, Sarah, David and Lucy. The marriage ended in divorce.[7]
His second marriage in 1962 was to Dorothy Cole, a social scientist and university administrator. It also ended in divorce. His third marriage in 1969 was to Frances Knight with whom he had a son, Jonathan.[8] He was a direct descendant of Jamaican-born radical leader and anti-slavery advocate Robert Wedderburn[9] and thus also of the Jacobite rebel Sir John Wedderburn, 5th Baronet of Blackness.