Sir John Boyd, 1st Baronet Boyd (29 December 1718 in

St Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

– 24 January 1800 in Danson Hill) was a sugar merchant and vice-chairman of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. He built

Danson House Danson House is a Palladian mansion and a Grade I listed building at the centre of Danson Park, in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, south-east London. History The Danson Estates before Danson House The earliest reference to the Danson Es ...

, and was the first

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

owner of the

Piranesi Vase The Piranesi Vase or Boyd Vase is a reconstructed, colossal marble calyx krater from ancient Rome, on three legs and a triangular base, with a relief around the sides of the vase. It is 107 inches (2.71m) tall and 28 inches (0.71m) in diameter. T ...

Life

He was the only child of Augustus Boyd (1679–1765), a northern Irish merchant who owned several sugar estates on the islands and later moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to set up trade links there with the plantations. John went into this family business, but not before he had read

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

and taken a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

of the continent. Settling in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

and marrying his first wife, Mary Bumpstead, in the early 1740s, he purchased the lease at Danson in 1753, followed by the site he intended for Danson House in 1762, secured via an Act of Parliament. Elected director of the East India Company in April 1753, he served on the company's court until 1764, and backed the peace made by Britain in 1763 at the end of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. Having given birth to four children, Mary died in 1763, and John remarried to Catherine Chapone in 1766 (with whom he had three more children). Having inherited his father's estate in the meantime, he began work on the house and, in 1772, 1775 and 1776, took tours of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

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to collect art to fill it. Boyd was made a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1775, but his plantations were beginning to fail and the final blow was the capture of

by the French in 1779. This and the death of two of his children in 1772 and 1779 turned him into a recluse, rarely leaving Danson and never entering London society. Even after being able to repay his debts through a loan from

Paul Benfield Paul Benfield (1742–1810) was an English East India Company employee and trader, financier and politician. He is now known as a target for the rhetoric of Edmund Burke, and for his spectacular bankruptcy. Life Benfield went out to India as a ...

(one of Boyd's clerks who had made his fortune in India), he did not leave Danson until his death there in 1800. His son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

(1750–1815) auctioned off his father's large collection of paintings and drawings, demolished the imposing wings at Danson containing kitchens and stables, and built the house's present stable block, before selling the estate in 1807.

References

External links

DNB articleEast Indies – June 1627: British History Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, John 1718 births 1800 deaths 18th-century English businesspeople 18th-century Irish businesspeople English art collectors Directors of the British East India Company Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain British Saint Christopher and Nevis people People from Saint Kitts Saint Kitts and Nevis people of British descent