Fred Silvester

Frederick John Silvester was a British Conservative Party politician.

Life and career

The son of William Thomas Silvester and Kathleen Gertrude, Silvester was born in Hackney, London on 20 September 1933. He was educated at Sir [George Monoux Grammar School], Walthamstow, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he achieved a first class in Part I of the history tripos and a lower second in Part II of the law tripos, graduating in 1954. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1957, and became a Conservative member of Walthamstow Borough Council four years later. Having contested the Walthamstow West parliamentary constituency in 1966, Silvester was elected a Parliament |Member of Parliament] at the Walthamstow West by-election|Walthamstow West by-election in 1967], but lost the seat at the 1970 [United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]. He was returned to Parliament of [the United Kingdom|Parliament] at the February 1974 general election as MP for Manchester Withington, and held that seat but he was defeated at the 1987 general election by Labour's Keith Bradley.
As an Opposition Whip during Harold Wilson's second government, Silvester is a major character in James Graham's play This House.
Silvester died on 5 July 2025, at the age of 91.