Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth

{{Short description|British politician and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Lord Boyle of Handsworth

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|CH|PC}}

| image = Sir Edward Boyle 1969.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Boyle in 1969

| office = Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science

| term_start = 16 February 1965

| term_end = 15 October 1969

| leader = Alec Douglas-Home
Edward Heath

| predecessor = Quintin Hogg

| successor = Margaret Thatcher

| office1 = Shadow Home Secretary

| term_start1 = 29 October 1964

| term_end1 = 16 February 1965

| leader1 = Alec Douglas-Home

| predecessor1 = Henry Brooke

| successor1 = Peter Thorneycroft

| office2 = Minister of State for Education and Science

| term_start2 = 1 April 1964

| term_end2 = 16 October 1964

| primeminister2 = Alec Douglas-Home

| predecessor2 = Office established

| successor2 = Reg Prentice

| office3 = Minister of Education

| term_start3 = 13 July 1962

| term_end3 = 1 April 1964

| primeminister3 = Harold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home

| predecessor3 = David Eccles

| successor3 = Quintin Hogg

| office4 = Financial Secretary to the Treasury

| term_start4 = 22 October 1959

| term_end4 = 13 July 1962

| primeminister4 = Harold Macmillan

| predecessor4 = Jocelyn Simon

| successor4 = Anthony Barber

| office5 = Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education

| term_start5 = 18 January 1957

| term_end5 = 22 October 1959

| primeminister5 = Harold Macmillan

| predecessor5 = Dennis Vosper

| successor5 = Kenneth Thompson

| office6 = Economic Secretary to the Treasury

| term_start6 = 7 April 1955

| term_end6 = 11 November 1956

| primeminister6 = Anthony Eden

| predecessor6 = Reginald Maudling

| successor6 = Derek Walker-Smith

| office7 = Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply

| term_start7 = 28 July 1954

| term_end7 = 7 April 1955

| primeminister7 = Winston Churchill

| predecessor7 = Toby Low

| successor7 = Frederick Erroll

| office8 = Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Handsworth

| term_start8 = 16 November 1950

| term_end8 = 29 May 1970

| predecessor8 = Harold Roberts

| successor8 = Sydney Chapman

| birth_name = Edward Charles Gurney Boyle

| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|8|31|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kensington, London, UK

| death_date = {{death date and age|1981|9|28|1923|8|3|df=y}}

| death_place =

| nationality =

| party =

| otherparty =

| height =

| spouse =

| relations =

| children =

| parents =

| relatives =

| education =

| alma_mater = Christ Church, Oxford

| occupation =

| profession =

}}

Edward Charles Gurney Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CH|PC}} (31 August 1923 – 28 September 1981), known as Sir Edward Boyle, 3rd Baronet, between 1945 and 1970, was a British Conservative Party politician and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds.

Early life and career

Boyle was born in Kensington, London, the eldest son of Sir Edward Boyle, 2nd Baronet, and succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1945.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography accessed 26 July 2009 He was educated at Eton College and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1949 with a third-class BA (later converted to an MA) in history.{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30844|title=Boyle, Edward Charles Gurney, Baron Boyle of Handsworth (1923–1981), politician|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30844|last1=Ramsden|first1=John}} From 1942 to 1945, he was a temporary junior administration officer at the Foreign Office. He worked at Bletchley Park in intelligence.[http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/handlists/081pt1MS660Boyle.pdf University of Leeds Library] Catalogue of Correspondence of Edward Boyle

Political career

The then Sir Edward Boyle entered Parliament in 1950 as MP for Birmingham Handsworth, a seat he would hold until his retirement in 1970. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Under-Secretary of State for Air from 1951 to 1952 and to the Under-Secretary of State for Defence in 1952, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Supply from 1954 to 1955, Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1955 to 1956 (he resigned from this role in protest of the Suez Crisis), Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Education from 1957 to 1959, Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1959 to 1962, Minister of Education from 1962 to 1964 and Minister of State for Education and Science in 1964. In 1957 he opened the new teaching block and science block extension at Abingdon School.{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1957_September_V011_N003.pdf#page=13|title=Founder's Day|publisher=Abingdon School}}

University of Leeds

File:University of Leeds (4th May 2010) 063.jpg was named in his honour.]]

Boyle was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds in 1970. He was a Trustee of the British Museum from 1970 to 1981 and Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of UK Universities from 1977 to 1979.

In 1977 he had been due to deliver the Reith Lectures for the BBC. Despite 2 years preparation time, he withdrew with 3 months notice.[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-week-in-radio-still-hungry-after-truncated-reith-lecture-839430.html The Independent 4 June 2008] Robert Hanks: The Week in Radio

Boyle died from cancer in Leeds on 28 September 1981, aged 58. He was unmarried and childless and whilst his life peerage became extinct at his death, his baronetcy passed to his brother, Richard.

Honours

On his retirement from parliament in 1970, Boyle was awarded a life peerage as Baron Boyle of Handsworth, of Salehurst in the County of Sussex.{{London Gazette |issue=45142 |date=3 July 1970 |page=7377}}

Boyle was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) by the following universities:{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

University of Leeds (1965)
University of Southampton (1965)
University of Bath (1968){{Cite web|title=Graduation Ceremonies|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/older.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313195724/http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/older.html|archive-date=March 13, 2012|access-date=May 29, 2021|website=www.bath.ac.uk}}
University of Sussex (1972)
University of Liverpool (1981)

Boyle also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1977.{{Cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|title=Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates|last=|website=www1.hw.ac.uk|access-date=2016-04-06|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|url-status=dead}}

Boyle was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) on 13 June 1981.{{Cite web|url=https://www.leighrayment.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926113647/http://www.leighrayment.com/misc/compofhonor.htm|title=Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page – Companions of Honour|archive-date=26 September 2008|url-status=usurped|website=Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page – Companions of Honour}}

Flanders and Swann satirically cited "Edward Boyle's Law" : The greater the external pressure, the greater the volume of hot air.

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg File:Boyle of Handsworth Escutcheon.png

|escutcheon = Per bend raguly Gules and Argent two staves raguly in bend counterchanged.

|crest = In front of a lion's head couped Argent a staff fesswise Gules.

|supporters = Dexter an owl Proper, sinister a lion Argent.

|motto = God's Providence Is My Inheritance {{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=1973}}}}

Edward Boyle Memorial Trust Foundation Scholarship

The [https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/4145 Edward Boyle Memorial Trust] was established in the wake of the death of the Lord Edward Boyle, in September 1981.

Its aims were the advancement of education, learning and music and its guidelines are as follows:

support will be given to talented young people at a time when they are in most need;
the Trust does not intend to do what institutions or individuals should do for themselves. It will help those with proven talent who have shown that they deserve help and are prepared to make their own substantial contribution;
the Trust will support originality and excellence;
administration costs will be kept to a minimum;
because some donors have indicated ways in which they wish their contributions to be used the Trustees will endeavor to meet their requests.

The Trust offered the following support:

Ove Arup/Edward Boyle Scholarships, intended for students from Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia following an undergraduate course in mechanical or electrical and electronic engineering, and
Medical Elective Bursaries intended for Commonwealth students.

Publications

The politics of education: Edward Boyle and Anthony Crosland in conversation with Maurice Kogan (Penguin education specials), ed. M. Kogan, Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1971.
The Bedside 'Guardian' 22 (1972–73). Introduction, London: Collins, 1973.