Edward Boyd (1794 – 2 November 1871) was a

Surveyor General of Tasmania Surveyor General of Tasmania is a position originally created for the colony of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania from 1855 now a state of Australia). List of Surveyors General of Tasmania See also * Surveyor General of New South Wales * Surveyor Gener ...

, (then the colony of Van Diemen's Land, now a state of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Early life

Boyd was born in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and educated at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

. He joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and became a captain in 1826 before retiring in 1829 to become deputy surveyor general in Van Diemen's Land.

Career in Australia

In July 1829 Boyd arrived in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

. Four years later Boyd was in dispute with the Surveyor General

George Frankland George Frankland (1800 – 30 December 1838) was an English surveyor and Surveyor-General of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). In 1823, Frankland was appointed surveyor-general at Poona, India, where he became acquainted with Edward Dumare ...

about having to open a survey branch in Launceston. Bad health prevented Boyd from surveying Launceston and he was transferred back to Hobart after his failure at Launceston. When Frankland died, Boyd became Surveyor General, however his poor performance led to the governor seeking a replacement (this was to be Robert Power in July 1841).

Late life and legacy

Boyd rejoined the British Army and was promoted

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the

29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot The 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1694. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot to become the 1st Battalion, the Worcestershire ...

in November 1841, seeing service in

Ghazipur Ghazipur, is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ghazipur city is the administrative headquarters of the Ghazipur district, one of the four districts that form the Varanasi division of Uttar Pradesh. It is located on the Ganges (Ganga) ...

, India. Boyd retired in 1850; he received the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1854. He died in London aged 77 on 2 November 1871 .

References

External links

Edward Boyd appointed Surveyor-General
''The Hobart Town Courier'', 11 Jan 1839. ''Trove'', National Library of Australia {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Edward 1794 births 1871 deaths Surveyors General of Tasmania