Fred Silvester

The son of William Thomas Silvester and Kathleen Gertrude (née Jones), Silvester was born in Hackney, London on 20 September 1933.^[1][2] 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.^[3][4][5] After teaching at Wolstanton Grammar School in Newcastle-under-Lyme for two years he was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1957, but never practised and instead became an account executive with the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson.^[6]

Silvester was a Conservative member of Walthamstow Borough Council from 1961 to 1964.^[5] Having contested the Walthamstow West parliamentary constituency in 1966, he was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) at the Walthamstow West by-election in 1967,^[1] but lost the seat at the 1970 general election.^[7] He was returned to Parliament at the February 1974 general election as MP for Manchester Withington,^[8] and held that seat^[9] but he was defeated at the 1987 general election by Labour's Keith Bradley.^[10]

As an Opposition Whip during Harold Wilson's second government (1974–76),^[5] Silvester is a major character in James Graham's play This House. He was on the left of the parliamentary Conservative party, becoming PPS to the notable 'wet' Jim Prior at the Department of Employment upon the party's return to power in 1979, and was often critical of Margaret Thatcher during her time as Prime Minister.^[6]

Silvester died on 5 July 2025, at the age of 91.^[11][2]