Martin Boyd
| Martin Boyd | |
|---|---|
Boyd seated at his desk in his home, "Plumstead", near Cambridge, England, 1947
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| Born |
Martin à Beckett Boyd 10 June 1893 Lucerne, Switzerland |
| Died | 3 June 1972 Rome, Italy |
| Burial place | Protestant English Cemetery, Rome |
| Residence | Australia, Britain, Rome |
| Nationality | Anglo-Australian |
| Other names | Martin Mills (pseudonym) (Emma née Mills, his grandmother) |
| Education | Trinity Grammar School, Melbourne |
| Known for | Novels, autobiographies, family |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Merric Boyd, Penleigh Boyd, Helen Read (siblings); Lucy Beck, Arthur Boyd, Guy Boyd, David Boyd, Mary Nolan, Robin Boyd |
| Awards |
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| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1916-1918 |
Martin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 – 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born into the à Beckett–Boyd family, a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th century in Australia.
Boyd was a novelist, memoirist and poet who spent most of his life after World War I in Europe, primarily Britain. His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes. His writing was also deeply influenced by his experience of serving in World War One.
Boyd's siblings included the potter Merric Boyd (1888–1959), painters Penleigh Boyd (1890–1923) and Helen à Beckett Read, née Boyd (1903–1999). He was intensely involved in family life and took a keen interest in the development of his nephews and nieces and their families, including potter Lucy Beck (b. 1916), painter Arthur Boyd (1920-1999), sculptor Guy Boyd (1923-1988), painter David Boyd (1924-2011), painter Mary Nolan (1926-2016) - who was married to painters John Perceval and Sidney Nolan - and architect Robin Boyd (1919-1971). His nephew Guy Boyd was his literary executor.
Boyd's friends saw him as "[c]harming, generous, frivolous and funny". He was sensitive and private; a complex man who struggled with his identity as an Anglo-Australian, as an expatriate writer and with religious beliefs. He did not believe in the class superiority which many of his critics levelled at him; was a loyal family man and friend, yet never found a lasting romantic relationship of his own. As a writer he wrote from experience and about what he knew intimately but was never sure about himself. Throughout his life he felt like an outsider whether in Australia or Europe.
Martin à Beckett Boyd was born in Lucerne, Switzerland, on 10 June 1893. He was the youngest son of Arthur Merric Boyd (1862-1940) and Emma Minnie à Beckett (1858-1936) who were both established painters. At the time of his birth the family was travelling through Europe, supported financially by his maternal grandmother, Emma à Beckett, wife to William Arthur Callendar à Beckett. It was Emma's fortune, inherited from her father, John Mills, an ex-convict who founded the Melbourne Brewery, that allowed their family to live comfortably. He regarded this "somewhat casual birthplace as one of the factors accounting for his lifelong inability ever to feel completely at home anywhere."
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