The Papers of John Ernest Silkin

CURRICULUM VITAE

18 Mar 1923 Born, son of 1st Baron Silkin PC, CH, younger brother of Samuel Silkin, (later Lord Silkin of Dulwich)

Education: Dulwich College, University of Wales, Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1944, LLM)

1942: Joined Royal Navy

1943: Commissioned as Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., serving in East Indies Fleet, Eastern Fleet and British Pacific Fleet aboard HMS King George V and HMS Formidable

1945: Promoted Lieutenant, R.N.V.R.

1946: Demobilised, returned to Cambridge

1950: Admitted Solicitor. Married Rosamund John (actress). Contested (Lab) St Marylebone.

1951: Contested (Lab) West Woolwich

1954: Son born, Rory L.F. Silkin

1959: Contested (Lab) South Nottingham

1962-63: Councillor for London Borough of St Marylebone

1963-87: Labour MP for Deptford (July 1963-74), Lewisham, Deptford, 1974-87

1966: PC

1966-69: Government Chief Whip

1968-69: Deputy Leader, House of Commons

1969-70: Minister of Public Buildings and Works

1974-76: Minister for Planning and Local Government in the Department of the Environment

1976-79: Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

1979-80: Opposition Spokesman on Industry

1980-83: Shadow Leader of the House of Commons

1981-83: Opposition Spokesman on Defence and Disarmament

1985-86: Dairy Industry Arbitrator

26 Mar 1987: Died

Posthumous publication: "Changing Battlefields: The Challenge to the Labour Party".

The papers held at Churchill Archives Centre cover Silkin's Parliamentary and Ministerial career, and his other public interests, including the Channel Tunnel, the E.E.C. and the dairy industry. There is material of particular interest on Silkin's difficulties with his Constituency Party in Deptford, and on the Labour Party Leadership and Deputy Leadership elections in 1980 and 1983.

The papers of John Silkin were given to the Churchill Archives Centre by his widow, Mrs Rosamund Silkin in February 1990.

The collection is largely open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required. Closures of individual files are noted in the paper catalogue, please ask staff for further details.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of John Ernest Silkin, SLKN

The collection has been catalogued and a copy of the catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge and the National Register of Archives, London. This description of the collection and series within it is also available on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/.

This finding aid was prepared by Natalie Adams of Churchill Archives Centre from an existing catalogue in July 2004. The original catalogue was compiled by Martin Taylor with additions by Alan Kucia in 1993.