Sir John Boyd, 1st Baronet
Sir John Boyd, 1st Baronet Boyd (29 December 1718 in
Life
He was the only child of Augustus Boyd (1679–1765), a northern Irish merchant who owned several sugar estates on the islands and later moved to London to set up trade links there with the plantations. John went into this family business, but not before he had read theology and classics at Christ Church, Oxford and taken a Grand Tour of the continent.
Settling in Lewisham and marrying his first wife, Mary Bumpstead, in the early 1740s, he purchased the 200-acre (0.81 km2) lease at Danson in 1753, followed by the site he intended for Danson House in 1762, secured via an Act of Parliament.[1] Elected director of the East India Company in April 1753, he served on the company's court until 1764, and backed the peace made by Britain in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years' War.
Having given birth to four children, Mary died in 1763, and John remarried to Catherine Chapone in 1766 (with whom he had three more children). Having inherited his father's estate in the meantime, he began work on the house and, in 1772, 1775 and 1776, took tours of Spain, France and Belgium to collect art to fill it.[citation needed]
Boyd was made a
References
- ^ a b c "Danson House". bexley.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
- ^ "No. 11562". The London Gazette. 16 May 1775. p. 1.