Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/306

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Boyd
244
Boyd

received a threatening letter, refused to accommodate him. He then went on to London, and thence to the United States. On his return to Ireland in the autumn of 1881 he was mobbed at an auction at Westport, and his effigy was hanged and burnt. He also received letters signed 'Rory of the Hills,' threatening him with the fate of Lord Leitrim, who had lately been murdered. But things gradually improved, and in little more than a year were in a normal condition. In February 1886 Boycott left Ireland and became agent for Sir H. Adair's estates in Suffolk. He soon lived down his unpopularity and was even accustomed to take his holidays in Ireland. He was unable to obtain any compensation from the government. On 12 Dec. 1888 he gave evidence before the special commission appointed to investigate the charges made by the 'Times' against the Irish leaders. He was not cross-examined.

The word 'boycott' first came into use at the end of 1880. In the 'Daily News' of 13 Dec. it is printed in capitals. Joseph Gillis Biggar [q. v.] and others habitually employed it to signify all intimidatory measures that stopped short of physical violence. It is now generally used in both England and America in the sense of a deliberate and hostile isolation. Boycott as he appeared before the commission is described as a shortish man with a bald head, a heavy white moustache, and flowing white beard. He died at Flixton, Suffolk, on 19 June 1897. He married, in 1853, Annie, daughter of John Dunne, esq., who survived him.

[Report of the Special Commission, 1890, i. 613-14, iv. 267-8, &c.; Barry O'Brien's Parnell, i. 236-8; Macdonald's Diary of the Parnell Commission, p. 80; Times, 22-24 June 1897; Daily News, 22 June; and Standard, 22-23 Jane; Corresp. of Lord Erne and the Loughmask Tenantry, 1880; Norfolk Chronicle, 26 June 1897; Walford's County Families; Murray's Engl. Dict.; private information.]

G. Le G. N.

BOYD, ANDREW KENNEDY HUTCHISON (1825–1899), Scottish divine, son of Dr. James Boyd, was born at Auchinleck Manse, Ayrshire, on 3 Nov. 1825. After receiving his elementary education at Ayr, he studied at King's College and the Middle Temple, London, with thoughts, apparently, of being an English barrister. 'I am the only kirk minister,' he once said, 'who is a member of the Middle Temple.' Returning to the university of Glasgow, he qualified for the ministry of the national church, gaining high distinction in philosophy and theology, and securing several prizes for English essays. He graduated B.A. at Glasgow in April 1846, and at the end of 1850 was licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Ayr. For several months he was assistant in St. George's parish, Edinburgh, and on 18 Sept. 1851 he was ordained parish minister of Newton-on-Ayr, where he succeeded John Caird [q. v.] In 1854 he became minister of Kirkpatrick-Irongray, near Dumfries. Here he remained five years, maturing his pulpit style, and, writing under his initials of 'A. K. H. B.,' steadily gaining reputation in 'Fraser's Magazine' with his 'Recreations of a Country Parson.' Both his excellence as a parish minister and his literary distinction soon attracted attention, and he was sought after for vacant charges. In April 1859 he was appointed to the parish of St. Bernard's, Edinburgh, and found the presbytery much exercised on the question of decorous church service, raised by the practice and advocacy of Dr. Robert Lee [q. v.] Boyd seems to have intermeddled but little in the controversy, but he sympathised with the desire for a devout and graceful form of worship, and he was afterwards a prominent member of the Churcli Service Society. In 1864 the university of Edinburgh conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D.

In 1865 Boyd succeeded Dr. Park as minister of the first charge, St. Andrews, finding in the post the goal of his ecclesiastical ambition. 'Never once, for one moment,' he said, 'have I wished to go elsewhere' (Twenty-five Years of St. Andrews, i. 10). Boyd at St. Andrews was probably better known beyond Scotland than any other presbyterian divine of his day. He had numerous friends among the leaders of the English clergy and eminent men of letters, and, popular as his writings were at home, they were even more widely read in America. Soon after settling in St. Andrews he began to urge the question of an improved ritual in the services of the national church, and in 18G6, on the initiative of his presbytery, a committee was appointed by the general assembly to prepare a collection of hymns. The hymnal compiled by the committee, with Boyd as convener, was published in 1870, and enlarged in 1884. This work brought Boyd prominently forward in the church courts; he amply proved his judgment and discrimination as a critic of sacred song, and his business capacity and unflagging diligence as convener of his committee. St. Andrews University conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in April 1889. In May 1890 he was appointed moderator of the general assembly. He performed his duties assiduously and well, and, as was said at the time, 'with archiepiscopal dignity.'