{{Short description|British Army general (1877–1930)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Major-General | name = Sir Gerald Boyd | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|CMG|DSO|DCM}} | image = Major-General G. F. Boyd, C.B., C.M.G, D.S.O., D.C.M., G.O.C. 46th Division.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1877|11|19|df=yes}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1930|04|12|1877|11|19|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | burial_place = Putney Vale Cemetery, London | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army | service_years = 1895–1930 | rank = Major-General | unit = Devonshire Regiment<br/>East Yorkshire Regiment | commands = Staff College, Quetta<br/>Dublin District<br/>46th (North Midland) Division<br/>170th (2/1st North Lancashire) Brigade | battles = Second Boer War<br/>First World War | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath<br/>Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George<br/>Distinguished Service Order<br/>Distinguished Conduct Medal<br/>Mentioned in Despatches | relations = | other_work = }} Major-General '''Sir Gerald Farrell Boyd''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|KCB|CMG|DSO|DCM}} (19 November 1877 – 12 April 1930) was a senior British Army officer who served as Military Secretary from 1927 to 1930.
==Military career== Educated at St Paul's School,<ref name=odnb>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1013801|title=Boyd, Sir Gerald Farrell |publisher= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> Boyd enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment in 1895. He fought in the Second Boer War of 1899–1902 and took part in the Relief of Ladysmith, including the actions at Colenso, and the operations in the Orange River Colony, including the action at Wittebergen. During the war, he was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment in May 1900<ref name=lh>{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BOYD3.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925025932/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BOYD3.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2012|title=Boyd, Sir Gerald Farrell|publisher= Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives|access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> and promoted to lieutenant on 26 April 1902.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue= 27474|date=16 September 1902 |page=5962}}</ref> He was mentioned in despatches three times (including 25 April 1902),<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27428 |page=2766 |date=25 April 1902}}</ref> received the Queen's South Africa Medal, and was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his war service.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27490 |date=31 October 1902 |page=6901}}</ref> The battalion stayed in South Africa throughout the war, and he returned home on the SS ''Orotava'' in December 1902, when they were stationed at Aldershot.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home|date=22 December 1902 |page=10 |issue=36957}}</ref>
He went on to be brigade major of the 4th Division's 11th Infantry Brigade in September 1912.<ref name=lh/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28649|page=7193|date=1 October 1912}}</ref>
Boyd served in the First World War, which began in the summer of 1914, with the 11th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which was sent to the Western Front.<ref name=lh/> In February 1915 he became a general staff officer, grade 2 (GSO2) of the 1st Division,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29107|page=2820|date=19 March 1915|supp=y}}</ref> and was promoted in March to major, when he transferred to the Royal Irish Regiment<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29146|page=4147|date=27 April 1915|supp=y}}</ref> and was advanced to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel, "for distinguished service in the field," that same month.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29152|page=4264|date=4 May 1915}}</ref> In July, he took over the position of general staff officer, grade 1 (GSO1) of the 6th Division, in succession to Lieutenant Colonel John Shea.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29263|page=8105|date=13 August 1915|supp=y}}</ref> In June 1916, he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general and served as the general staff of V Corps.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29675|page=7223|date=21 July 1916}}</ref> He was promoted to brevet colonel, "for distinguished service in the field," in January 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29886|page=15|date=29 December 1916|supp=y}}</ref> He was made commander of the 170th Infantry Brigade in France in July 1918 and, after being promoted to the temporary rank of major general in September,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30949|page=12042|date=11 October 1918|supp=y}}</ref> was made general officer commanding (GOC) of the 46th (North Midland) Division.<ref name=lh/> He led the 46th Division when it stormed the Hindenburg Line at Bellenglise during the Battle of St Quentin Canal.<ref name=odnb/>
After the war Boyd was made a brigadier general on the general staff at general headquarters of British Army on the Rhine and then, after being promoted to substantive major general in June 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31395|page=7421|date=6 June 1919}}</ref> became colonel of the Leinster Regiment in October<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31689|page=15592|date=12 December 1919|supp=y}}</ref> and then GOC Dublin District in Ireland in 1920.<ref name=lh/>
He was appointed commandant of the Staff College, Quetta, in India, in January 1923<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32824|page=3531|date=18 May 1923}}</ref> and, after being appointed colonel of the East Yorkshire Regiment in December 1925,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33131|page=984|date=9 February 1926}}</ref> relinquished this assignment in January 1927.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33264|page=2315|date=8 April 1927}}</ref> He was then the military secretary in the UK in March 1927.<ref name=lh/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33254|page=1434|date=4 March 1927}}</ref>
He died of cerebral spinal fever in 1930, at the age of 52.<ref name=odnb/>
==Family== In 1913, Boyd married Grace Sophia Burdett, and they went on to have two sons.<ref name=odnb/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last=Priestley |first=R. E.|author-link=Raymond Priestley|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Hindenburg_Line |title=Breaking the Hindenburg Line |location=London |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd |date=1919 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=William Thwaites}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 46th (North Midland) Division|years=1918–1919}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Reginald Hoskins}} |- {{s-bef|before=Louis Vaughan}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Staff College, Quetta|years=1923–1927}} {{s-aft|after=C. A. C. Goodwin}} |- {{s-hon}} {{s-bef|before=Francis Seymour Inglefield}} {{s-ttl|title=Colonel of the East Yorkshire Regiment | years=1925–1930}} {{s-aft|after=Henry Haggard}} |- {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Sir David Campbell}} {{s-ttl|title=Military Secretary|years=1927–1930}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Sidney Clive}} {{end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Gerald}} Category:1877 births Category:1930 deaths Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London Category:British Army major generals Category:Devonshire Regiment soldiers Category:East Yorkshire Regiment officers Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal Category:Commandants of the Staff College, Quetta Category:Military personnel from London Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War