Samuel Silkin
British politician (1918-1988)
Samuel Charles Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich (6 March 1918 – 17 August 1988) was a British Labour Party politician and cricketer. He was the MP for Dulwich from 1964 to 1983, and served as Attorney General for England and Wales from 1974 to 1979.
Early life
Silkin was born in Neath in 1918, the second son of Lewis Silkin (afterwards Baron Silkin), a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and a minister in Clement Attlee's Cabinet from 1945 to 1950. His younger brother, John, was also an MP and Cabinet minister. He 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.
Career
He became a lawyer and was called to the bar in 1941. He received a commission in the British Army in December 1941.
On 18 March 1946, Silkin, with the military rank of lieutenant colonel, presided over the Double Tenth war crimes trials at the Supreme Court Building in Singapore. Twenty-one Japanese Kenpeitai were accused of torturing 57 internees, resulting in the deaths of 15.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Samuel Silkin” as british politician (1918-1988). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british politician (1918-1988). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7412628. VIAF identifies the subject as 67890207. The Library of Congress control number is n85060762. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 1988, 1964 and 1983.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Samuel Silkin”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Samuel Silkin primary sources, Samuel Silkin archive and Samuel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Samuel Silkin”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Samuel Silkin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.