It is a very rewarding experience when travelling abroad to
come across references to fellow Greenockians who have left their mark, in a
positive way, in a far off country. On a
recent visit to Canada, I visited the lovely little town of Elora in Wellington
County, Ontario. There I discovered the
following historical plaque erected by the
Ontario Heritage Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Recreation.
It reads:-
David Boyle 1842 - 1911
Born in Scotland, Boyle came to Canada
in 1856 and settled in this area. As a
local school teacher, he began an extensive collection of native artifacts and
became an archaeological authority. Boyle
moved to Toronto in 1883 and three years later was appointed the first Curator
of the Provincial Archaeological Museum, then housed in the Canadian Institute
Building. Dedicated to the study and
retention of artifacts within Ontario, he initiated an active programme of
excavation and acquisition. Between 1887
and 1907 Boyle edited a noted series, the Annual Archaeological Reports,
published under the auspices of the Ontario Department of Education. Through his work on Ontario prehistory, Boyle
gained international recognition as a leading Canadian archaeologist and
anthropologist.
David Boyle was born in 1842 in Greenock, the son of John Borland Boyle
and Anne Anderson. The 1851 Census shows
David (9) living with his parents John (32) listed as an Engine Smith, his
mother Ann (33) and siblings John (5) and Mary Ann (3 months) at 9 East Quay
lane in Greenock.
David's grandfather, also David Boyle was blacksmith at Greenfoot,
Sorn, Ayrshire and was married to Jean Borland.
They had several children, at least one of whom, Andrew also emigrated
to Canada and was blacksmith at Eden Mills, Ontario. David worked with him for a while. David began his career as a blacksmith
working for Hugh Hamilton in Elora, but also attended school and had a thirst
for knowledge. He began teaching in 1865
and moved to Elora Public School in 1871. In 1867 he married Martha S Frankland
and they had two daughters. Geology and
natural history were just two of his many interests and he began collecting
specimens which he donated to the Canadian Institute in Toronto. In 1909 he received his Doctor of Laws from
the University of Toronto. You can read
more about Boyle in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
here.
It would appear that Boyle also sent natural history samples back to
his home town of Greenock as there are a couple of reports from the1870s and
1880s in the Greenock Telegraph detailing these. Hopefully the McLean Museum may still have
some - I'll try and find out when it reopens in a year's time.
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| From a plaque in Elora showing the town in days gone by. |
It really makes me proud to realise the esteem which is afforded to
people like David Boyle and his family who left their native land and achieved
so much in their adopted country.
