Doris Boyd was the youngest of six children, born to
Victorian Naval Forces Lieutenant Thomas Bunbury Gough and Evelyn Anna Walker Gough (
née Rigg). at a distance,
Victorian Naval Force ships Doris grew up in an unusual household, in which her mother's buoyant spirit, radical politics and
Christian Science faith contrasted with her father's conservative background and temperament. Her
family line ran directly back to Thomas Bunbury Gough, a
Dean of Derry, brother to the great soldier
Hugh Gough, the 1st Viscount Gough. Bunbury Gough was a Lieutenant in the
Victorian Navy between 1885 and 1888, a high rank at the time. As Lieutenant, he was in charge of running the when the Commander was not on board. Outside of his naval career in Victoria, he worked variously as a merchant, as an insurance agent, and as a commission agent, as did his father-in-law. Evelyn was co-proprietor of
The Sun: A Society Courier. Doris Gough studied under
Bernard Hall and
Frederick McCubbin at the
National Gallery School where she met
Merric Boyd, a fellow student and potter. Boyd came from a background of artists who collectively formed the
Boyd family. In 1915, she married Boyd, and together they raised five children:
Lucy,
Arthur (painter, ceramics),
Guy (pottery, sculpture),
David (pottery, painting) and
Mary. ==Career==