Archibald Edward Boyd, Paget's Horse.

Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps "Cape Colony", "Transvaal" & "South Africa 1901".
13387 Sgt. A. E. Boyd, 68th Company, 19th Imperial Yeomanry.

Archibald Edward Boyd was born on 5th June 1877, the seventh child of James and Cecilia Clifford Boyd. The family is recorded on the 1871 and 1881 Scottish Censuses as residing at 4 Moray Place, Edinburgh. James (born 1827) and Cecilia (born 1848) had a total of nine children: James Craufurd (born 1868), Charles Clifford (born 1869), Cecilia Theodosia (born 1870), Frederick Kennedy (born 1872), Henry Leslie (born 1874), Francis Walter (born 1876), Archibald Edward (born 1877), Arthur Octavian (born 1882) and May Florence (born 1884). The family were clearly very wealthy; the Census describes James as an annuitant "living on own means" and they employed a number of female servants and a footman. The sons of the family were educated at various public schools; James and Frederick attended Cargilfield Preparatory School in Edinburgh and later Francis Walter and Arthur Octavian would attend Rugby School.

By the time of the 1891 Census, the family had moved to 18 Queen's Gate Place, Kensington, London, and were employing a household staff of a butler and five female servants. James, the eldest son, and Frederick were now students at Merton College, Oxford, while Henry Leslie (aged 17) and Archibald (aged 13) are listed as boarders at Sedbergh School in Cumbria. Archibald's father, James Boyd, died on 10th June 1894 leaving a personal estate in excess of £45,000, roughly equivalent to £3.5 million in today's money and giving some indication of how wealthy the family was. In 1901, the Census records the family as having moved to 17 Queen's Gate Gardens and employing a butler, a footman and five female servants.

Archibald seems to have originally envisaged a career in the Merchant Navy. On 29th April 1895, he joined the Royal Navy Reserve and on 9th December 1898, he was awarded his "Certificate of Competency as 2nd Mate of a foreign-going ship" in the Merchant Service. However, on 14th March 1900, following the outbreak of war with the Boers, he enlisted in the 68th Company of the Imperial Yeomanry, agreeing to serve one year with the Colours. The 68th was one of the four Companies, subsequently known as "Paget's Horse", raised by George Paget, an amateur soldier and Victorian adventurer. This was an exclusive unit made up of public school gentlemen, who were recruited through advertisements in fashionable London clubs. Paget's Horse wore insignia made up of the letters "PH" and this led to much speculation about its meaning, some wags claiming it stood for "Piccadilly Heroes", "Public House" or "Perfectly Harmless." More information about Paget's Horse can be found here.

Archibald's Attestation Papers describe him as a sailor in the Merchant Navy, aged 22 years and 9 months, almost 6' tall, weighing 170lbs and with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He had an anchor tattooed on his left wrist and a snake and crossed flags on his right forearm. His religion was noted as Church of England.

The 51st, 52nd and 68th Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry (Paget's Horse) set sail on the troopship "Tagus" on 16th March 1900. Archibald was on his way to war just a few days after enlisting. His Service Papers confirm that his South African service was counted from 17th March 1900 till 23rd April 1901, a total of 1 year and 71 days. Little is known of the actual details of Archibald's experiences in the South African War although his Papers mention service at Elands River. He must have been a capable soldier as shown by his promotion to Sergeant. For his service in the war, Archibald was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps. On his return to England, he was discharged from the army at Thorncliffe on 23rd May 1901, his character being described as "very good".

At the age of 26, Archibald embarked on a career in the India Service, which he joined on 1st February 1904. Just over a year later, he married Grace Evelyn Lutwyche Waterlow, the daughter of Philip Hickson Waterlow, High Sheriff of Surrey and Chairman of Waterlow and Sons, engravers of banknotes, postage stamps and share certificates. The Waterlow family lived at Silverlands, a grand mansion at Botley, near Chertsey in Surrey. This magnificent house is now sadly neglected, but there are some interesting pictures giving an idea of its former grandeur here. The wedding of Archibald and Grace took place in the Parish Church at Botley on 28th June 1905. The officiating clergy were the Rev. James Boyd, the Rev. Francis Boyd (Archibald's brothers) and M. Hebblethwaite (Vicar of Lyne). There is a full description of the wedding in The Surrey Comet of 15th July 1905, which mentions that many guests were brought up from London by special train.

The newly married couple sailed for Bombay, India, where Archibald had a post as Assistant Collector of Customs. On 28th March 1906, their son Dennis Archibald Boyd was born in Bombay. Three years later, on 14th July 1909, their daughter Joyce Evelyn Boyd was born in Kent. Over the course of the next 20 years, Archibald's work would take him to Karachi (1909), Calcutta (1914), Madras (1918), Burma (1918) where he was promoted to Chief Collector of Customs, Madras (1922) and Rangoon (1924). In Calcutta, he also served as a Captain in the 37th Calcutta Presidency Battalion and was awarded the British War Medal for service during World War One. In Rangoon, he was Vice President of the Mayo Marine Institute. He retired in November 1929.
In the last years of his life, Archibald Edward Boyd lived at Pipers Cottage, Nuthurst, near Horsham, Sussex. He died on 8th March 1937, leaving an estate of £5,434 9s 5d to his widow. He is buried in St Andrew's churchyard, Nuthurst.

Archibald's elder brother, Francis Walter, served as an army chaplain and his younger brother, Arthur Octavian, had a successful career as an officer in the Royal Artillery. After studying at the Royal Military Academy, he was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in May 1900. He went to France as a Captain with the 39th Battery, Royal Artillery, in August 1914 and served on the Western Front till October of that year, then again from July 1915 till July 1916, being wounded twice. He later served as Military Assistant at the Ordnance Factory, Woolwich, from 1917 to 1929 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1925. He died in 1958 at the age of 76. His medal group, consisting of an OBE and a 1914 Trio with MID oak leaf, was in the collection of the late John Tamplin and was sold by DNW in 2002.