Sir Harold Leslie Boyce, 1st Baronet

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, KStJ (9 July 1895 – 30 May 1955) was an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n-born British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician. Boyce was born in Taree, New South Wales, the son of Charles Macleay Boyce, a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, and his wife Ethel May (née) Thorne. He was educated at The

Sydney Church of England Grammar School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , grades = Early learning ...

(Shore),

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, and was later

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

, Inner Temple. He served during the First World War in the Australian Imperial Force as a second lieutenant in the 27th Battalion, and later as a lieutenant in the 10th Battalion. In July 1916, he was wounded at Pozières and invalided back to Adelaide. After the war he eventually settled in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Gloucestershire and in 1931 became Chairman of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company. In 1929 he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Gloucester, a seat he held until 1945. Boyce was also high sheriff of Gloucestershire from 1941 to 1942 and Sheriff of the City of London from 1947 to 1948 and served as Lord Mayor of London between 1951 and 1952. Boyce was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KBE) in the

1944 Birthday Honours The 1944 King's Birthday Honours, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 2 June 1944 for the United Kingdom and British Empire, New Zealand, and South Africa. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they w ...

. On 24 November 1952 he was created a baronet, of

Badgeworth Badgeworth is a village and civil parish in the Tewkesbury district of Gloucestershire, England, between Gloucester and Cheltenham. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,206, increasing to 1,286 at the 2011 census. A ...

in the County of Gloucester. Boyce was also the President of Gloucester City Football Club from 1937 to 1949. Boyce married Maybery Browse Bevan, daughter of Edwin Philip Bevan, in 1926. They had three sons; Richard, Charles and John. He died in May 1955, aged 59, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Richard. The baronetcy is currently held by Richard's son, Robert Boyce. Lady Mayberry Boyce died in 1978.

Notes

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, * * *
Biography

External links

* , - , - 1895 births 1955 deaths People from Taree Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Knights of Justice of the Order of St John Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Australian Army officers Australian military personnel of World War I Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom Sheriffs of the City of London 20th-century lord mayors of London 20th-century English politicians Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 Members of Parliament for Gloucester High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire People educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1890s-stub