Ben Parkin

Ben Parkin
Born	21 April 1906
Died	3 June 1969
Education	Wycliffe College
Alma mater	Lincoln College
Occupation	Politician

Benjamin Theaker Parkin (21 April 1906 – 3 June 1969) was a British teacher and politician who served as Member of Parliament for Stroud and for Paddington North. His father, Captain B. D. Parkin, was headmaster of Stonehouse Council School in Gloucestershire from 1912 to 1939 and Chairman of Stonehouse Parish Council.

Parkin was educated at Wycliffe College, from which he went to Lincoln College, Oxford University. He also studied at Strasbourg University, and became a teacher. By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War he was on the staff of his old college; he left to serve in the Royal Air Force as Flight-Lieutenant.

Shortly before the end of the war Parkin was elected to Parliament for the Labour Party at the 1945 general election, becoming the first ever Labour MP for Stroud. He was on the left of the party and was part of a delegation of Labour MPs who met Joseph Stalin in 1947; when he voted against the Ireland Bill, he was warned by the Chief Whip about his conduct.

At the 1950 general election, the Stroud constituency was abolished and Parkin was defeated by only 28 votes in the new Stroud and Thornbury. He was contested the seat again at the 1951 election, but lost again, this time by 1,582 votes. He was chosen to replace William Field, who had resigned as MP for Paddington North following conviction for importuning, and won the resulting by-election in 1953. He made another visit to the Soviet Union and one to the People's Republic of China in 1954.

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