Samuel Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich

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. On 15 April 1946, after a hearing lasting 21 days, eight were sentenced to death by hanging. Three others received life imprisonment, one a sentence of fifteen years, and two were given prison terms of eight years. Seven were acquitted.

In 1963, Silkin was raised to the rank of Queen's Counsel.

Family In 1941, Silkin married Elaine Stamp, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. His first wife died in 1984, and the following year, he married Sheila Marian.

Silkin died at Churchill Hospital in Oxford on 17 August 1988, at the age of 70.