Valentine Joseph Doube (3 January 1915 – 18 January 1988) was an Australian politician. Born in Brighton to hat maker Francis William Robert Doube and Honora Fitzgerald, Doube was educated at St James' School in Gardenvale before studying at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

, receiving a Diploma of Physical Education in 1940. He taught physical education in primary schools from 1933 until 1941, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. On 17 May 1941 he married Freda May Scott, with whom he had three sons. In 1943 he transferred to the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

, where he remained until the end of the war. In 1945, the year he joined the Labor Party, Doube began work at the

Department of Immigration The Department of Immigration was an Australian government department that existed between July 1945 and June 1974. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Adminis ...

. In 1946, he unsuccessfully contested the federal seat of

Henty Henty may refer to: Australian geography *Henty, New South Wales * Henty, Victoria * Henty (wine) an Australian geographical indicator and wine region in southwestern Victoria *Division of Henty, a former federal electorate in Victoria *Henty Highw ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. In 1950 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

as the member for Oakleigh. He was appointed Minister for Health in March 1955 but lost the position following Labor's crushing defeat at that year's elections. Doube held his seat until 1961, when he was defeated, but returned to the Assembly in 1970 as the member for Albert Park. He retired from politics in 1979, becoming an executive member of Amnesty International and a member of the Victorian State Relief Committee.

References

1915 births 1988 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly University of Melbourne alumni Australian Army soldiers Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian Army personnel of World War II Public servants from Melbourne Australian schoolteachers 20th-century Australian politicians People from Brighton, Victoria {{Australia-Labor-Victoria-MP-stub