Sir Walter Boyd, 1st Baronet

Sir Walter Boyd, 1st Baronet, (28 January 1833 – 25 June 1918) was an Irish judge, who was also a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. After serving for many years as the Irish Bankruptcy judge, he was transferred to the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in Ireland. His much younger friend Maurice Healy described him with great respect and affection in his memoir The Old Munster Circuit.

Boyd's eldest son Sir Walter Herbert Boyd, 2nd Baronet, is still remembered in the sailing world as the designer of the Howth 17 yacht. His second son Dr. Cecil Boyd was a noted rugby player.

Background He was born on what is now Walworth Road in Portobello, Dublin, the fourth son of Walter Boyd and his second wife Jane MacRory, daughter of Robert MacRory of Castledawson, County Londonderry. respect for the Court? Boyd replied that the Court was receiving the exact degree of respect it deserved.

Judge In 1885 he was appointed the Irish Bankruptcy judge.

In 1897 the reorganisation of the High Court led to Boyd's transfer to the King's Bench Division. On the other hand, he had nothing but contempt for Richard Cherry, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in Boyd's final years on the Bench.

He rarely dealt with criminal cases until his last few years on the Bench. Towards the end of his career, when a shortage of High Court judges made it necessary for him to go on the criminal assizes, he acquired a reputation for imposing exceptionally severe penalties: some of the sentences he handed down while holding the Munster assize in 1910 were so harsh that, according to Healy, the sessions became popularly known as "the Mad Assize". Matters were complicated by his refusal to consult Richard Cherry, the senior judge on the assize, whom he despised. On the other hand, his great kindness of heart meant that he was always willing to recommend a reprieve from the death penalty if he thought that there were any mitigating circumstances in the case.

His short judgement in the probate case, Crofts v Beamish, where three High Court judges were unable to agree on the proper interpretation of a will, gives a flavour of his robust prose style and forceful personality. Boyd admitted frankly that he had no idea what the testator meant, and added: "I do not think he himself knew what he meant. More extraordinary words I have never come across".

Last years Boyd retired from the Bench in 1916, and was created a Baronet, and a member of the Irish Privy Council. They had six children: Sir Walter Herbert Boyd, 2nd Baronet, Colonel Henry Boyd, Dr. Cecil Boyd, Robert (of the Indian Police), Alice and Ida. ¸

Character Despite a considerable difference in age, a warm friendship existed between Boyd and Maurice Healy, and in The Old Munster Circuit'' Healy recalls Boyd as "a warrior",

A sketch by Thomas Bodkin shows Boyd as a gaunt elderly man with a flowing white beard. The photos in the newspapers at the time of his retirement are very similar.