Boyd Family

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The Boyd family is perhaps Australia’s most famous and prolific artistic dynasty, as painters, artists, illustrationists, sculptors, potters, ceramists, writers, architects, digital technicians, graphic designers, and musicians, over several generations. The family is descended from four diverse immigrants to Victoria:

  • William à Beckett (1806-1869), lawyer and Chief Justice of Victoria, arrived New South Wales, 1837, with his wife Emily à Beckett, née Hayley, and three young sons.
  • John Mills (c1810-1841), convict and brewer, transported to Van Diemen's Land 1827, married Hannah Hale 1836, arrived Port Phillip District 1837.
  • Major Alexander Boyd (1792-1869), paymaster of the 11th Regiment of Foot (The North Devonshire Regiment of Foot), arrived Van Diemen's Land in 1845, possibly with his wife Susan Boyd, née Brown.
  • Dr Robert Martin (1798-1874), medical practitioner and squatter, overlanded from Sydney in 1839 to take up land at Mount Sturgeon near Dunkeld, Victoria and Heidelberg. His wife Lucy Martin, née Gear, and family came from Sydney to join him soon after.

These four families were joined by marriages of their children in the young colony of Victoria in the 1850s:

  • William à Beckett‘s son Hon. William Arthur Callendar à Beckett (1833-1901) married John Mills’s daughter Emma Mills (1838-1906) in 1855, and had six children, including Emma Minnie à Beckett (1858-1936).
  • Major Alexander Boyd’s son Captain John Theodore Thomas Boyd (1825-1891) married Dr Robert Martin’s daughter Lucy Charlotte Martin in 1857, and had 12 children, including Arthur Merric Boyd (1862-1940).

However, the Boyd artistic dynasty can be said to really begin with the 14 January 1886 marriage of Emma Minnie à Beckett (known as Minnie) and Arthur Merric Boyd. Both were already established painters at the time of their marriage.

They had five children, four of whom became prominent in the Australian artistic world:
  • John Gilbert a'Beckett Boyd (1886-1896) was killed in a riding accident.
  • William Merric Boyd (1888-1959) [1], potter, married Doris Gough (1889-1960) [2], painter.
  • Theodore Penleigh Boyd (1890-1923), painter, married Edith Anderson, painter.
  • Martin à Beckett Boyd (1893-1972) was a writer.
  • Helen à Beckett Boyd (1903-1999), painter, married Neven Read, naval officer.

The artistic tradition continued into the next generations:

The children of Merric and Doris Boyd were:
  • Lucy de Guzman Boyd (b.1916), ceramist, married Hatton Beck (1901-1994) [3], ceramist, potter, sculptor.
Their children are:
  • Lawrence Hatton Beck (1940-), actor
  • Robert Hatton Beck (1942-), potter/ceramist, married Margot Gardner (daughter of painter Freidl Gardner) and they had two children.
  • Paul Hatton Beck (1948-), musician
Their children are:
  • Polly Boyd (1946-), artist and painter
  • James Patrick Boyd (1948-), painter and sculptor
  • Lucy Ellen Boyd
Their children are:
  • Lenore Anne (1953-)
  • Sally Deidre (1956-) married Bruce Lavery Bellman (1951-) and had five children.
  • Derry Catherine (1957-), owner-operator of a graphic, web, and multimedia business, married (1)Vuthichai Satianyot (also known as Yap Guan Soon), and (2) Michael Evans. Derry and Michael had three children.
  • Kirstin Doris (1960-), writer of children's literature, married (1) John Murray, graphic designer, and had three children. Kirstin married (2) Ken Harper, drama teacher, playwright, gymnast, and circus trainer.
  • Benjamin Merric Elwyn (1963-) had one child.
  • Charlotte Beatrice Magdalen (1968-), potter and ceramist, married John O'Donohue, digital technician. They had two children.
  • Martin Duncan Gough (1970-)
Their daughters are:
  • Amanda, painter and costume designer
  • Lucinda, model and painter
  • Cassandra, painter and illustrationist
  • Mary Elizabeth Boyd (1926-), painter, married (1) John Perceval, painter, potter, and sculptor, and had four children. Mary married (2) Sir Sidney Nolan, painter, and became Lady Nolan.
Mary and John's children are:
  • Matthew, painter, married Uta, and had three children.
  • Theresa(Tessa), painter
  • Celia, painter
  • Alice, has two children
The children of Penleigh and Edith Boyd were:
  • Pamela Boyd (b & d 1913)
  • John à Beckett Penleigh (Pat) Boyd (1915-1980), painter and test pilot, married Anne Davey.
  • Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd (1919-1971), architect and writer, married Patricia Madder.
The children of Helen and Neven Read are:
  • Gayner Read (1936-1988), painter.
  • Susan Read (1938-)
  • Andrew Read (1942-)
  • Prudence Read (1947-)

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