Background
He was the second son of Lewis Silkin (afterwards Baron Silkin), a Labour Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) and a minister in Clement Attlee"s Cabinet from 1945 to 1950.
He was the second son of Lewis Silkin (afterwards Baron Silkin), a Labour Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) and a minister in Clement Attlee"s Cabinet from 1945 to 1950.
Samuel Silkin was educated at Dulwich College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
He played two games of first-class cricket in 1938, one each for Cambridge University Cricket Club and Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He became a lawyer; he was called to the bar in 1941 and, in 1963, was raised to the rank of Queen"s Counsel. He chaired the Society of Labour Lawyers.
He served as a councillor on Camberwell Borough Council from 1953 until 1959.
He was re-elected in Dulwich until his retirement at the 1983 general election. From 1974 to 1979, he served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under Labour Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.
After his retirement from politics, he was created a life peer as Baron Silkin of Dulwich, of North Leigh in the County of Oxfordshire on 13 May 1985. Silkin died in 1988, aged 70.
43rd United Kingdom Parliament. 44th United Kingdom Parliament. 45th United Kingdom Parliament.
46th United Kingdom Parliament.
47th United Kingdom Parliament. 48th United Kingdom Parliament]
At the 1964 general election, Silkin was elected Member of Parliament for the Dulwich constituency, adjoining his father"s former constituency of Peckham.