Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/225

 Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, in the autumn of 1870, and the buildings were formally opened on 29 Oct. 1879. Boyd's notable services were acknowledged by the presentation, at a public meeting on 11 Oct. 1880, of a marble bust by Brodie (now standing in the vestibule of the building opposite that of Provost Drummond, founder of the old infirmary of 1741), with an inscription by Sir Robert Christison.

Boyd was elected lord provost of Edinburgh in 1877, was re-elected in 1880, and held office till the end of 1882. During his provostship the new Edinburgh dock, Leith, was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 26 July 1881. In the following month, when Queen Victoria held a review of Scottish volunteers, Boyd, who was hon. colonel of the Queen's Edinburgh regiment, was knighted by her (25 Aug.). As a curator of Edinburgh University from 1879 to 1885, as a commissioner for northern lighthouses, 1877-82, a commissioner for Scottish Educational Endowments, 1882-9, and as chairman for ten years of the Scottish Fishery Board, he also did useful work. After relinquishing all other public duties, he continued to act as director of the Union Bank of Scotland and of the Scottish Provident Institution till within a few months of his death. Boyd was F.R.S. of Edinburgh and a D.L. and J.P. He died at 41 Moray Place, Edinburgh, on 22 Aug. 1902, and received a public funeral at the Dean cemetery. He married on 6 June 1844 Mary Ann, daughter of John Ferguson, surgeon, of Edinburgh. She died on 21 Feb. 1900, leaving two sons and six daughters.

 BOYLE, COURTENAY EDMUND (1845–1901), permanent secretary of the board of trade, born on 21 Oct. 1845 in Jamaica, where his father was then stationed, was elder son of Captain Cavendish Spencer Boyle, 72nd regiment. His mother was Rose Susan, daughter of Col. C. C. Alexander, R.E. Vice-admiral Sir Courtenay Boyle (1770-1844) was his grandfather, and Edward Boyle, seventh earl of Cork, his great-grandfather. His younger brother is Sir Cavendish Boyle, K.C.M.G., at one time governor of Newfoundland and Mauritius. He was educated at Charterhouse, where he was at once a good classical scholar and captain of the cricket XI. A Latin speech which he made at school before leaving for Oxford attracted the notice of Thackeray, who was present on the occasion as an old Carthusian. Boyle gained in 1863 an open junior studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, which was supplemented by an exhibition from his school. Although well read in classics, with an extraordinary memory for quotation, he only took a second class in moderations in 1865 and a third class in lit. hum. in 1868 (B.A. and M.A., 1887). He cherished interests outside the schools. He played in the University cricket XI against Cambridge in 1865-7, proving himself 'a splendid field at point,' 'a pretty useful bat,' and 'an excellent wicket keeper'. He was also a fine racquet player, representing Oxford against Cambridge in tennis in 1866-7, and he held the silver racquet for tennis for some years. Soon after leaving Oxford, Lord Spencer, to whom he was related and who was viceroy of Ireland in Gladstone's first administration, 1868-1874, took him on his staff in Dublin, first as assistant private secretary and then as private secretary. After acting as assistant inspector of the English local government board from 1873, he was appointed in 1876 inspector for the eastern counties. In 1882, when Lord Spencer went back to Ireland as viceroy, Boyle, still holding his inspectorship, again became his private secretary, and was on the scene of the Phoenix Park murders almost immediately after they had taken place. In 1885 he received the C.B. and was made assistant secretary to the local government board. In the following year he was appointed by Mr. Mundella, then president of the board of trade, to be assistant secretary in charge of the railway department, which, under his superintendence, engaged in much important work. As the result of prolonged inquiry there was a complete revision of railway rates and tolls, and the Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1888 and the Regulation of Railways Act of 1889 were passed. The regulation of electric lighting and traction also dates from this period and, advised by Lord Kelvin, Boyle was responsible officially for settling the standards of measurement in electricity and for preparing the requisite legislation. Another important matter with which he was concerned and in which he took great interest was the establishment of the National Physical 