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Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin

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Sculpture by Franta Belsky on Stevenage Clock Tower

Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin CH (14 November 1889 – 11 May 1972), was a British Labour Party politician.

Career

Lewis Silkin was born on 14 November 1889[1] to Abraham and Fanny Silkin, who were Litvak Jews from what was then the Lithuanian part of the Russian Empire.[2] His parents came to settle in the East End of London and were of modest means, Abraham cleaned the toilets of the Synagogue, gave Hebrew lessons and sold fruit off a barrow.[2] Lewis had several siblings, including Joseph Silkin (father of the poet Jon Silkin)[2] who he worked with as a solicitor and with whom he co-founded Lewis Silkin LLP together, the London law firm where he practised and which still bears his name.[3] He became a member of the London County Council in 1925. He chaired the LCC Town Planning and the Housing and Public Health Committees and was a member of the Central Housing Advisory Committee.

He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Peckham in 1936, and was a member of the Select committee on National Expenditure. He was Minister of Town and Country Planning in the Government of Clement Attlee from 1945 until he retired in 1950. He appointed Monica Felton as the first woman Deputy Chairman of the Stevenage Development Corporation in 1946[4] (who then became the first female chairman between 1949 and 1951) and appointed Baroness Denington as the second female chairman of the same corporation in 1966.[5][6]

Honours

Silkin was raised to the peerage as Baron Silkin, of Dulwich in the County of London, in the 1950 Birthday Honours. He was further honoured in 1965 when he was made a Companion of Honour. Of his three sons, his eldest, Arthur, a civil servant, disclaimed the peerage. The other two, Samuel and John, both followed him into Parliament and became members of the Privy Council as well as Government Ministers. Although Samuel refused a knighthood as Attorney-General, he eventually became a life peer as Baron Silkin of Dulwich, of North Leigh in the County of Oxfordshire.

Samuel's son Christopher also disclaimed the hereditary peerage on the death of his uncle Arthur in 2001, the first time a peerage has been disclaimed twice.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin". The Peerage. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Who Was Who In Dulwich - Jon Silkin (1930-1997) poet". Dulwich Society. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  3. ^ Lewis Silkin LLP
  4. ^ "MRS. Felton (Visit to Korea)". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Obituary: Baroness Denington". The Independent. 11 September 1998. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  6. ^ Balchin, Jack (1980). First New Towns: An Autobiography of the Stevenage Development Corporation 1946-1980. pp. 15–17.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Peckham
1936–1950 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Labour Party on London County Council
1930–1933 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Town and Country Planning
1945–1950 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Silkin
1950–1972 		Succeeded by
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