Life

Boyd was born about 1754. Before the outbreak of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 he was a banker in Paris. The progress of events soon caused him to flee, and the property of the firm of Boyd, Ker, & Co., of which he was the chief member, was confiscated in October 1793. On March 1793 the firm of Boyd, Benfield, & Co. was established in London. Boyd, as the principal partner, contributed £60,000 to the common stock.

He was a supported of William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...

, and enjoyed his confidence. He was employed in contracting to the amount of over £30 millions for large government loans, and for some time was very prosperous. He was also M.P. for Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Shaftesbury was a parliamentary constituency in Dorset. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1295 until 1832 and one member until the constituency was abolished in 1885....

 (1796–1802), which at the period of his election was a pocket borough of his partner Paul Benfield, who was returned along with him .

After a few years the firm got into difficulties. It had at one time seemed likely that the property seized at Paris would be restored, but the revolution of 4 September 1797 caused the overthrow of the government which had taken preliminary steps towards restitution, and the final confiscation of the property followed. In expectation of a different issue, Boyd, Benfield, & Co. had entered into arrangements which soon resulted in disaster. They obtained private help, and even assistance from government, but in 1799 the affairs of the company were put into liquidation, and Boyd found himself ruined.

He visited France in the brief interval of the Peace of Amiens (March 1802-May 1803), was one of those detained, and was not released till the fall of Napoleon in 1814. On his return to England he was able to recover something of his former prosperity, and sat as M.P. for Lymington

Lymington (UK Parliament constituency)

Lymington was a parliamentary borough in Hampshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1584 until 1868, and then one member from 1868 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.-1584-1640:- 1640-1868 :...

 from April 1823 to 1830. Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

 met him in April 1828, and gives an account, though not accurate, of his remarkable self-sacrifice on behalf of his creditors.

Boyd died at Plaistow Lodge, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, on 16 September 1837.

Works

Boyd wrote pamphlets on financial subjects. They were:

• 'Letter to the Right Honourable William Pitt on the Influence of the Stoppage of Issues in Specie at the Bank of England on the Prices of Provisions and other Commodities' (London, 1801, 2nd ed. 1811). This was called forth by a pamphlet on the effects of the suspension of cash payments in 1797, and was intended to prove 'that the increase of banknotes is the principal cause of the great rise in the price of commodities and every species of exchangeable value' (p. 7). These conclusions were attacked by Sir Francis Baring in his 'Observations' (1801) and other writers.
• 'Reflections on the Financial System of Great Britain, and particularly on the Sinking Fund' (1815, 2nd ed. 1828). This was written in captivity in France in 1812. It discusses the benefits of a sinking fund
  Sinking fund
  A sinking fund is a fund established by a government agency or business for the purpose of reducing debt by repaying or purchasing outstanding loans and securities held against the entity. It helps keep the borrower liquid so it can repay the bondholder....
  
   as a means of clearing off national debt, and explains various schemes for its application.
• 'Observations on Lord Grenville's Essay on the Sinking Fund' (London, 1828), a reply to a treatise published the same year.