CHIEF:  Alastair Ivor Gilbert Boyd 7th Baron Kilmarnock

Richard G. and Jerri Lynn Boyd

568 W. Friedrich Street

Rogers City, Mich. 49779

Edward Reid Boyd / Jessica Mabel Boyd

Hertfordshire, England

I (Gilbert Boyd Reid)  was born on  13 February,  1936  at Windyway,Warwick Road, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England,  the  first of the two sons of  Thomas Edward Boyd Reid and Mary Reid  (nee Lee). On my birth certificate my father is described  as a bookseller of 27 Thornfield Road, Bishop's Stortford.  I was  christened  Gilbert Boyd but have always been known to  family  and friends simply as "Boyd".

My father was the only son of  Edward Reid and Jessica Mabel Boyd. He was  born  in  England  on  27 November 1876 and died in England on 8 October, 1968.  His  parents  were  married  on 29 December 1894. His mother died in England on 25 March, 1928.

I would like to find out all I can about my grandmother,  her  ancestors and descendants.  All  I know  at present about her  is  what my mother has written in her unpublished memoirs:

"When Edward married Miss Jessie Mabel Boyd he married into a wealthy family. Jessie had six or seven sisters and one brother and every one of  them  had  red  hair.  All the sisters except Jessie married into money  and  they  all  received what was called a Marriage Settlement from their father....In Jessie's case, her husband, Teddy, had only a small  position  in  some  London office,  but  the  income  from her marriage settlement was sufficient to keep her small  family reasonably comfortable.  But  all  Tom's  cousins on his mother's side were wealthy;  so  much  so that as time went on, he had very little to do
with them. But his mother talked a great deal about her  sister,  Mrs Courtauld, or 'my sister, Mrs Merriman', to the confusion and boredom of her listeners.... I don't know where Mr.  Boyd's  money  came from but I do know that his wife was a Miss Black and  it  was  either the Blacks or the Boyds who owned vast tracts of land in  Argentina where they raised cattle for the beef market ..."

The Mrs Courtauld mentioned here married into the family that  owned the firm of Courtaulds which was and maybe still  is  quoted  on  the London Stock exchange. It also established the Courtauld Institute in London.  Several members, says my mother,  "were involved in scientific operations, including explorations in the Arctic".

Mrs Merriman  had  a  son,  Frank Boyd Merriman, who became a lawyer, M.P. and  judge  and  eventually  was  made President of the Probate,
divorce and  Admiralty Division  of  the High Court, England.  He was knighted in 1928 and created  a  baron  in  1941.  I am mailing you a photocopy  of  Lord Merriman's obituary in the London Daily Telegraph newspaper from which I culled this information.

Gilbert "Boyd" Reid
16 Pax Vale, Cantaro,
Santa Cruz,
Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies.
Email address: boydreid@opus.co.tt

NOTE: Use this data as a finding tool, just as you would any other secondary source. When you find the name of an ancestor listed, confirm the facts in original sources.

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