Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill

The Right Honourable The Lord Stow Hill PC
Home Secretary
In office 18 October 1964 – 23 December 1965
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Henry Brooke
Succeeded by	Roy Jenkins
Attorney General for England and Wales
In office 24 April 1951 – 26 October 1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Sir Hartley Shawcross
Succeeded by	Sir Lionel Heald
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office 4 August 1945 – 24 April 1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Sir Walter Monckton
Succeeded by	Sir Lynn Ungoed-Thomas
Personal details
Born	23 July 1902 (1902-07-23)
Died	1 January 1979 (1979-02) (aged 76)
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford

Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill PC (23 July 1902 – 1 January 1979) was a British lawyer and Labour Party politician.

Background and education

Soskice's father was the exiled Russian revolutionary journalist David Soskice; his mother was the granddaughter of artist Ford Madox Brown, niece of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and sister of Ford Madox Ford. Soskice was educated at St Paul's School, London, and Balliol College, Oxford. He studied law and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1926. He served in the British Army with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry during World War II.

Political career

Following the war, he was elected to parliament as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead East in the 1945 general election, and became Solicitor General in the government of Clement Attlee, serving in that office throughout Attlee's government. He was also, briefly, UK delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. As Solicitor General, Soskice was viewed as an important advocate for the government in the House of Commons. His constituency was abolished in the 1950 election, but he was soon returned to the House of Commons at a by-election in the Sheffield Neepsend, where the sitting MP Harry Morris stood down to make way for Soskice. In April 1951, he became Attorney General.

In 1952, Soskice joined the shadow cabinet, and his fortunes rose in 1955 with the election of his close ally Hugh Gaitskell as party leader, although he continued his legal practice as well. His Sheffield Neepsend constituency was abolished for the 1955 general election, but in 1956 he won a by-election in the Newport seat in Monmouthshire that he would hold until he retired.

When Labour returned to government in 1964 under Harold Wilson, Soskice became Home Secretary. In this office he did not impress Wilson - he was in poor health, and he botched the response to an electoral boundary change dispute in Northamptonshire and accepted weakening amendments to the Race Relations Act of 1965.

In December 1965, Soskice was relieved of his Home Office responsibilities and made Lord Privy Seal. He had, though, ensured Government support for Sidney Silverman's Private Members Bill, passed on 28 October 1965, which suspended the death penalty in the United Kingdom for five years (except for treason). This reform is sometimes erroneously included with the Jenkins reforms which followed. In fact when the death penalty for murder was finally abolished in 1969, James Callaghan was Home Secretary.

In 1966, Soskice retired, and was created a life peer as Baron Stow Hill, of Newport in the County of Monmouth. Stow Hill is a steep hill in Newport, which runs from the city centre up to St Woolos Cathedral.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Frank Soskice

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Henry Graham White	Member of Parliament for Birkenhead East 1945–1950	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Harry Morris	Member of Parliament for Sheffield Neepsend 1950–1955	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Peter Freeman	Member of Parliament for Newport 1956–1966	Succeeded by Roy Hughes
Legal offices
Preceded by Sir Walter Monckton	Solicitor General for England and Wales 1945-1951	Succeeded by Sir Lynn Ungoed-Thomas
Preceded by Sir Hartley Shawcross	Attorney General for England and Wales 1951	Succeeded by Sir Lionel Heald
Political offices
Preceded by Henry Brooke	Home Secretary 1964–1965	Succeeded by Roy Jenkins
Preceded by The Earl of Longford	Lord Privy Seal 1965–1966	Succeeded by The Earl of Longford