Benjamin Cochrane Doig (17 May 1904 – 16 November 1980) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

from 1957 to 1965, representing the electorate of Burwood. He was a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

prior to 1964, but resigned to sit as an independent for his final year in parliament after losing preselection to recontest his seat. Doig was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, and was educated at Paddington Public School and Fort Street Boys High School before studying psychology at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He worked as an industrial psychologist for Bonds Limited from 1926 to 1927 and as manager for an advertising agency from 1928 to 1932. From 1932 onwards, he worked as an insurance executive for the Mutual Life and Citizens Assurance Company. Doig was a Liberal candidate for safe Labor seat of Waverley at the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, and 1953 by-election. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the safe Liberal seat of Burwood at the 1957 by-election following the death of incumbent MP Leslie Parr. He was re-elected at the in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, and

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

elections. Doig had narrowly survived a preselection ballot in 1961 but was again challenged for preselection for the 1965 election by opponents of his stance on state aid to church schools. Doig had been among the most ardent supporters of the policy in the Liberal Party, and was defeated by challenger John Jackett. Doig resigned from the Liberal Party after his loss, and contested the 1965 election as an independent, but was defeated by Jackett. He subsequently returned to his prior role as an insurance executive. He stood as an independent candidate for Burwood at the

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

elections, but was unsuccessful. Doig died in November 1980 at

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A sma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doig, Ben 1904 births 1980 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians