Sir Charles Cavendish Boyle KCMG AMInstCE (29 May 1849 – 17 September 1916) was a British civil servant, magistrate, and colonial administrator who served as Colonial Governor of Newfoundland, Mauritius and British Guiana.[2] He wrote the lyrics for the anthem of the Dominion and later Province of Newfoundland, "Ode to Newfoundland".
Sir Cavendish Boyle | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Charles Cavendish Boyle 29 May 1849 Bridgetown, Barbados,[1] British Windward Islands |
Died | 29 May 1916 London, England | (aged 67)
Citizenship | British |
Spouse | Judith Sassoon (m. 1914) |
Profession | Colonial administrator |
Known as Cavendish Boyle, he was born in Barbados into an ancient British family, the son of Capt. Cavendish Spencer Boyle and Rose Susan Alexander, daughter of Lt-Col. C. C. Alexander. He was the grandson of Sir Courtenay Boyle and the great-grandson of the Seventh Earl of Cork and Earl of Orrery.[2] His elder brother, Sir Courtenay Edmund Boyle, was also a civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade.[3]
Boyle was educated in London at Charterhouse, and later studied colonial administration and law.[1]
Boyle joined the British Colonial Office and was made magistrate in the Leeward Islands in 1879.[1] He served as Colonial Secretary of Bermuda from 1882 to 1888 and in Gibraltar from 1888 to 1894. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint John (CMG) in 1889,[4] and granted a knighthood in the same order in the 1897 Diamond Jubilee Honours.[5]
In 1894 he moved to British Guiana, where he was Government Secretary and acted as Governor several times.[2]
In March 1901, he was appointed Governor of Newfoundland,[6] where he arrived in St. Johns in mid-June.[7] He stayed as such until 1904, and wrote poems to the island's rugged beauty including the Ode to Newfoundland which was adopted as the dominion's national anthem. As governor, Boyle donated a trophy, the Boyle Challenge Cup, to the Newfoundland Hockey League.
He continued his colonial career with a posting as the 19th Governor of Mauritius from 20 August 1904 to 10 April 1911, after which he retired to Brighton, England.[2]
In 1914, Boyle married to Louise Judith Sassoon MBE, daughter of Reuben David Sassoon (1835-1905). They had no children. He died in London in 1916 after undergoing an operation. His widow, who was 25 years his junior, lived to be 90, dying in 1964.[3]