Reilly Family History

Charles Boyd(e)

Name: (Captain) Charles Boyd
Parents: unknown
Born: 1797, Dublin Ireland
Immigrated: on the ship Egyptian in Feb. 1830
Wife: Eliza (b. 1800? though 1832 census has her aged 40, making it 1792?, born in Yorkshire, England)
Died: 11 March 1835

At a very early age Mary Lucille Burrows (later to be wife of J. T. Reilly) was taken into the care of (adopted by?) Captain Charles Boyd and his wife Eliza, with whom Mary's mother Rachel may have come to the colony.

Charles was born in 1797 in Dublin, Ireland. He arrived in Western Australia on the ship Egyptian in February 1830 as a retired army officer. He arrived with his wife Elizabeth (Eliza) and servants including William J Frankler (or Franklin). Eliza was born in Yorkshire, England in 1892.

Charles was granted 4000 acres in September 1830 and took 640 in the Swan region, 1360 acres in the interior and 2000 acres at Albany. Charles was mentioned in the 1832 census as a retired officer and self-employed agriculturalist.

Charles was living at 'Woodbridge' in June and December 1830, and in Guildford in September 1831. In June 1830 he accepted 640 acres on the left bank of the Swan River which had been allocated to Captain John Malloy, but offered to Boyd when Malloy and his wife decided to settle in Augusta.

At one stage he is recorded as living on the ship "Helena".

In October 1833 Charles was charged with larceny but was acquitted (CSR. 29/60). Charles ran a lighter service between Fremantle and Perth. In 1835 he was farming in Perth where he died on March 11, aged 35. The cause of death was 'excessive drinking'.

In june 1841, lot 114, of 1000 acres at Avon was allocated to Eliza Boyd in return for her husband's military service (30.6.1841. I.). Mrs Boyd subscribed to Guildford Church on 18.5.1842 (I). She received goods from England from the ship Unicorn in November 1845, and the ship Dispatch in December 1847 (I).

In the Swan-Guildford Historical Society newsletter from March – April  2010, there is a quote from a talk given by John Betts to Paul Hasluck in 1927 “Captain Boyd, the husband of the widow that used to help at the Sunday School when I was a child, was said to have been killed in a duel with Lieutenant Norcott somewhere up the swan, I do not know the truth of it but Mrs Boyd was a widow when she came to Sunday school.” They doubt the truth to this, as mentioned above the casue of death was listed listed as excessive drinking.

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