Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Boyle, David
BOYLE, DAVID, Lord Boyle (1772–1853), president of the Scottish court of session, fourth son of the Hon. Patrick Boyle of Shewalton, near Irvine, the third son of John, second Earl of Glasgow, was born at Irvine on 26 July 1772; was called to the Scottish bar on 14 Dec. 1793; was gazetted (9 May 1807), under the Duke of Portland's administration, solicitor-general for Scotland; and in the general election of the following month was returned to the House of Commons by Ayrshire, which he continued to represent until his appointment, on 23 Feb. 1811, as a lord of session and of justiciary. He was appointed lord justice clerk on 15 Oct. 1811. He was sworn on 11 April 1820 a member of the privy council of George IV, at whose coronation, on 19 July 1821, he is recorded by Sir Walter Scott to have shown to great advantage in his robes.
After acting as lord justice clerk for nearly thirty years, Boyle was appointed lord justice-general and president of the court of session, on the resignation of Charles Hope, lord Granton. Boyle resigned office in May 1852, declining the baronetcy which was offered to him, and retired to his estate at Shewalton, to which he had succeeded on the death of a brother in 1837. He died on 30 Jan. 1853.
Boyle was always distinguished for his noble personal appearance. Sir J. W. Gordon painted full-length portraits of him for the Faculty of Advocates and for the Society of Writers to the Signet. Mr. Patrick Park also made a bust of him for the hall of the Society of Solicitors before the Supreme Courts in Edinburgh.
Boyle was twice married: first, on 24 Dec. 1804, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Alexander Montgomerie of Annick, brother of the twelfth Earl of Eglintoun, who died on 14 April 1822; he had nine children by her, the eldest of whom, Patrick Boyle, succeeded to his estates; and secondly, on 17 July 1827, to Camilla Catherine, eldest daughter of David Smythe of Methven, lord Methven, a lord of session and of justiciary, who died on 25 Dec. 1880, leaving four children.
[Wood's Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 1813; Lodge's Peerage and Baronetage, 1883; Gent. Mag., passim; Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, 1813; Caledonian Mercury and Glasgow Herald, 7 Feb. 1853; Edinburgh Evening Courant and Ayr Observer, 8 Feb. 1853; Times, 9 Feb. 1853; Illustrated London News, 29 Jan. and 12 Feb. 1853.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.34
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 110 | ii | 3 | Boyle, David, Lord Boyle: for 30 Jan. read 4 Feb. |