Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin

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

Silkin worked as a solicitor, before becoming 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 Member of Parliament representing 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.

Silkin was raised to the Peerage in 1950, as Baron Silkin, of Dulwich in the County of London. 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.

[edit] References

  • (2003) Iain Dale: The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
  • (1945) The Times House of Commons 1945. The Times.
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