Courtenay Boyle

Sir Courtenay Edmund Boyle (21 October 1845 – 18 May 1901) was an English first-class cricketer and civil servant.

The son of Captain Cavendish Spencer Boyle and Rose Susan Alexander and the grandson of the Royal Navy admiral of the same name, he was born in October 1845 at the British military outpost at Newcastle in the Colony of Jamaica. He was educated at Charterhouse School, before going up to Christ Church, Oxford. He played first-class cricket for Oxford until 1867, making fourteen appearances in which he scored 367 runs at an average of 15.95, with a high score of 55. He also made an additional eight first-class appearances for the MCC from 1866 to 1872, as well as making a further appearance for Southgate in 1868.

Boyle graduated from Oxford with a second class in moderations and a third class in Literae humaniores.

He was appointed by A. J. Mundella, the then President of the Board of Trade, to be the assistant secretary in charge of the railway department in 1886. While in the post he oversaw the investigation into railway rates and tolls, which was pivotal to the passing of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 25) and the Regulation of Railways Act 1889. He also played an important role in the later establishment of the National Physical Laboratory. Boyle wrote in The Times under the pseudonym 'An Old Blue', in which he received widespread attention for advocating cricket reform. Boyle died from heart failure following a short illness at his Granville Place residence in May 1901.

Relations included his wife, Muriel Sarah Campbell, the daughter of John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor, who he married in April 1876 and had no children with. His brother, Cavendish, was the colonial administrator who served as Colonial Governor of Newfoundland, Mauritius and British Guiana. Their grandfather was the naval officer and political Sir Courtenay Boyle. His cousin, Cecil Boyle, was a rugby union international and a first-class cricketer.