Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill
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| The Right Honourable Frank Soskice Baron Stow Hill |
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| In office 1964 – 22 December 1965 |
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| Preceded by | Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor |
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| Succeeded by | Roy Jenkins |
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| Born | 23 July 1902 |
| Died | 1 January 1979 (aged 76) |
| Political party | Labour |
Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill (23 July 1902 – 1 January 1979) was a British lawyer and Labour Party politician.
Soskice's father was exiled Russian revolutionary journalist David Soskice; his mother was the granddaughter of artist Ford Madox Brown, niece of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and sister of Ford Madox Ford. Soskice was educated at St Paul's School, London, and Balliol College, Oxford. He studied law and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1926.
He served in the army during World War II. Following the war, he was elected to parliament as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP} for Birkenhead East in the 1945 general election, and became Solicitor General in the government of Clement Attlee, serving in that office throughout Attlee's government. He was also, briefly, UK delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. As Solicitor General, Soskice was seen as an important advocate for the government in the House of Commons. His constituency was abolished in the 1950 election, but he was soon returned to the House of Commons at a by-election in the Sheffield Neepsend, where the sitting MP Harry Morris stood down to make way for Soskice. In April 1951, he became Attorney General.
In 1952, Soskice joined the shadow cabinet, and his fortunes rose in 1955 with the election of his close ally Hugh Gaitskell as party leader, although he continued his legal practice as well. His Sheffield Neepsend constituency was abolished for the 1955 general election, but in 1956 he won a by-election in the Newport seat in Monmouthshire that he would hold until he retired.
When Labour finally again came to power in 1964 under Harold Wilson, Soskice became Home Secretary. In this office he did not impress Wilson - he was in poor health, and he botched the response to an electoral boundary change dispute in Northamptonshire and accepting weakening amendments to the Race Relations Act of 1965.
In December 1965, Soskice was relieved of his Home Office responsibilities and made Lord Privy Seal. He had, though, been responsible for the legislation which finally abolished the death penalty in the United Kingdom (except for treason), which is sometimes erroneously included with the Jenkins reforms which followed. The following year, 1966, he retired, and was created a life peer as Baron Stow Hill, of Newport in the County of Monmouthshire.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Henry Graham White |
Member of Parliament for Birkenhead East 1945–1950 |
Succeeded by (constituency abolished) (successor: Birkenhead)) |
| Preceded by Harry Morris |
Member of Parliament for Sheffield Neepsend 1950–1955 |
Succeeded by (constituency abolished) |
| Preceded by Peter Freeman |
Member of Parliament for Newport 1956–1966 |
Succeeded by Roy Hughes |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Walter Monckton |
Solicitor General for England and Wales 1945-1951 |
Succeeded by Sir Lynn Ungoed-Thomas |
| Preceded by Sir Hartley Shawcross |
Attorney General for England and Wales 1951 |
Succeeded by Sir Lionel Heald |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Henry Brooke |
Home Secretary 1964–1965 |
Succeeded by Roy Jenkins |
| Preceded by The Earl of Longford |
Lord Privy Seal 1965–1966 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Longford |
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