Ben Parkin
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Benjamin Theaker Parkin (21 April 1906 – 3 June 1969) was a British teacher and politician who served as the Labour Party Member of Parliament for
Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...
and for Paddington North. His father, Captain B. D. Parkin, served as Headmaster of Stonehouse Council School in Gloucestershire from 1912 to 1939, and as Chairman of Stonehouse Parish Council.


Early career

Parkin was educated at Wycliffe College, from which he went to
Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...
; he also studied at Strasbourg University. He became a teacher, and by the time of the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
was on the staff of his old college; he left to serve in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
as Flight-Lieutenant.


Parliament

Shortly before the end of the Second World War, Parkin was elected as the Labour Party MP for Stroud at the 1945 general election, becoming the first ever Labour MP for the constituency. He was on the left wing of the party and was part of a delegation of Labour MPs who met Soviet premier
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
in 1947; when he voted against the Ireland Bill, he was warned by the Chief Whip about his conduct.


Paddington MP

At the 1950 general election, the Stroud constituency was abolished and Parkin was narrowly defeated by only 28 votes at the new Stroud and Thornbury seat. He contested the seat again at the 1951 general election, but lost again, this time by 1,582 votes.UK General Election results October 1951, part 19
. ''Richard Kimber's political science resources''. Retrieved 23 January 2011. He was chosen to replace
Bill Field William James Field (22 May 1909 – 11 October 2002) was a British politician whose career was ended by a conviction for "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1953. He was Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Membe ...
, who had resigned as the MP for Paddington North after a conviction for importuning. Parkin won the resulting by-election in 1953. He made another visit to the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and one to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in 1954. In 1956, he made the observation that, when telling the Chinese that he represented Paddington, they had responded by saying "That is where the Church owns the brothels, isn't it?"; Parkin pointed out this had a grain of truth. He was strongly in favour of removing street prostitution and also campaigned against drug abuse in his constituency.


Rachman

Parkin's most prominent campaign was over housing conditions. He was vocal in calling attention to the misdeeds of property magnate Peter Rachman, and others like him, calling for a system of licensing of private landlords. Parkin alleged that Rachman's reported death was merely a ploy to escape further scrutiny. He took up other housing issues, including overcharging by
Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...
when it took over local council housing in 1965.


Death

In 1969, Parkin died suddenly in his car while visiting his son's school in west
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. At the resulting by-election, he was succeeded as MP by Arthur Latham.


References


Sources

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, ''Who's Who of British MPs'' Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *Obituary, ''The Times'', 4 June 1969.


External links

*
Vote for Ben Parkin 1945 Stonehouse history Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkin, Ben 1906 births 1969 deaths Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire Royal Air Force personnel of World War II UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 University of Strasbourg alumni