William Christopher Boyd
William Christoper Boyd | |
---|---|
Born | 1842 Hackney, London, U.K. |
Died | 18 September 1906 Cheshunt, U.K. | (aged 63–64)
Occupation | |
Years active | 1867-1904 |
William Christopher Boyd (1842–18 September 1906[1]) was a British entomologist and numismatist.
Biography
[edit]Boyd was born in 1842[2] and baptised on 16 February at St John's Church, Hackney.[3] Boyd's parents were Christopher Boyd, a gentleman[3][4] and Mary Ann Harriet Boyd (née Galliver),[5] who had married at St John's Church, Hackney on 26 April 1838.[4]
Boyd was privately educated, and began working when comparatively young.[1]
Boyd's regular employment was as a partner in his family's business, the Manchester Drapers and Warehousemen firm J.C. Boyd and Company, who had a base at 7 Friday Street, London.[6][5] Boyd was a liveryman of the Draper's Company and served as Master of the Company in 1898.[5]
Boyd was also a Justice of the Peace for the county of Hertfordshire, and was a Governor of St. Batholomew's Hospital, London.[6]
Boyd married Fanny Wales on 9 August 1878 at Holy Trinity, Waltham Cross[7] and the couple went on to have four children.[8]
Boyd was a keen sportsman, enjoying shooting and cricket.[6]
Boyd was interested in archaeology and ethnography, and he collected Neolithic and Paleolithic implements as well as ethnographic material.[1] As of 2005, the survival status of Boyd's archaeological and ethnographic collections was not known.[5]
Boyd died at his home, a house named "The Grange" in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire on 18 September 1906.[9]
Entomology
[edit]Boyd's principal studies concerned Lepidoptera, most particularly moths including Tineidae,[6] but he also worked on Neuroptera in the later part of his life.[1]
Boyd was elected a Member of The Entomological Society of London in December 1867.[10] Boyd regularly exhibited specimens at Entomological Society meetings (for example in May 1874, October 1885, and December 1888 [11][12][13]) and he published short notices occasionally in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine from 1868[14] until 1904.[15][6]
Boyd's collection of 445 butterflies, 12,500 moths and 800 Trichoptera specimens were presented to the Natural History Museum, London in 1923 by his widow.[16] Boyd's notebooks dating from 1859 to 1889 are held in the archives of the Natural History Museum, London.[17]
Numismatics
[edit]Boyd's interest in coins was inspired by a collection he had inherited from George Henry Galliver, his maternal uncle.[5] Boyd joined the Numismatic Society in 1892 and was Honorary Treasurer from 1902 until his death.[1] He was described as having excellent powers of observation for examining coins and identifying those which were rare or unpublished varieties.[1] In 1897 Boyd came into the possession of a hoard of 193 Roman Denarii which had been found near Cambridge and he published a detailed account of the find and how it compared to a similar hoard found at Brickendonbury (a country estate near Hertford, Hertfordshire) in 1895.[18]
During his lifetime between 1893 and 1903 Boyd donated 36 ancient coins to the British Museum.[19] Boyd's personal coin and medal collection remained with his relatives until 2005, when it was offered for sale by the numismatic auctioneers A.H. Baldwin and Sons.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Evans, John (1907). "President's Address". Proceedings of the Royal Numismatic Society: Session 1906-1907. 7: 29–30 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ GRO Index for William Christopher Boyd: Hackney District: March quarter 1842, via freebmd
.org .uk - ^ a b "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813-1923 for William Christopher Boyd". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ a b "London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 for Christopher Boyd". ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ a b c d e f Baldwin, Edward, ed. (2005). Baldwin's Auctions: Auction Number 42: Monday 26 September 2005: The William C Boyd Collection.
- ^ a b c d e Bankes, Eustace R. (1907). "William Christopher Boyd". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 43 (January 1907): 16 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Marriages". Pall Mall Gazette. 13 August 1878. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "1891 England Census for William C Boyd". Ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ England Probate Calendar for 1906, page 287. Entry for William Christopher Boyd of Cheshunt Staffordshire. accessed via probatesearch.service.gov.uk
- ^ "2nd December, 1867 ; Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., President, in the Chair". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 4 (January 1868): 192 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Entomological Society of London : May 4th, 1874. Sir S. S. Saunders, President, in the Chair". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. XI (July 1874): 45. 1874 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Entomological Society of London, Oct. 7th, 1885 : Prof. J. O. Westwood, M.A., F.L.S., &c., Honorary Life President, in the Chair". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. XXII (December 1885): 167. 1885 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Entomological Society of London: Nov. 7th, 1888.—Dr. D. Sharp, F.L.S., President, in the Chair". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. XXV (December 1888): 168. 1888 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ Boyd, W.C. "Captures of Rare Lepidoptera in 1868". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 5 (November 1868): 147 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ Boyd, W C (1904). "Catocala fraxini, L., in Suffolk". The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. second series: XL (November 1904): 256 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ British Museum. Annual report of the General Progress of the Museum and of the British Museum (Natural History) for the year 1923. London: HMSO. 1924. p. 13 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Boyd, William Christopher, (d 1906), Entomologist". nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
- ^ Boyd, William C (1897). "A Find of Roman Denarii near Cambridge". The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society. Third series: 17: 119–126 – via JSTOR.
- ^ "W.C. Boyd". The British Museum. Retrieved 27 February 2024.