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Portrait of James Hall Boyd, service number 89364, his wife Mary Louisa Boyd and son Robert James Boyd.
The Boyds ordered a 12-by-10-inch (30 x 25 centimetres) print of this family photograph, which depicts James Boyd, his wife Mary and their son, James Robert. James was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 23 April 1886, and emigrated to New Zealand around 1912. He married Mary, eldest daughter of Mr & Mrs T.O. Stokes of Wellington, on 8 January 1913 and she gave birth to their only child on 9 January 1914. In this photograph, four-year-old Robert wears a fashionable sailor suit.
A devout churchman, James was working as a 'home missionary' for the Presbyterian Church in Napier. When he was called up for service in 1918, the Presbyterian Church initially lodged an appeal on his behalf with the Military Service Board. But the Evening Post newspaper reported on 21 June that the Reverend Dr James Gibb had withdrawn the appeal, stating that 'it was the policy of the Presbyterian Church to let every man go who could be possibly spared', and as the church at which James officiated was within a reasonable distance of Napier, the reverend felt that 'arrangements could be made to carry on the work there'.
On 12 September 1918, James entered camp and spent time at both Trentham near Wellington and at Awapuni in Palmerston North, where he trained for the Medical Corps - such work would have suited James well, given his background. While James attended camp, Mary and Robert went to live with her parents in Taranaki Street, Wellington.
James did not see active service. Following his four months of training, he was demobilised on 10 January 1919. Tragically, Mary died in childbirth on 6 October in Wellington, aged just 32-years-old - 'a woman pure and sweet', announced the death notice in the newspaper.
In 1922, James married Edna Helena Turner. They had two sons, Ian Osborne Boyd (1925-1981) and Donald Hamilton Boyd (1923 - ). According to Donald, James maintained strong connections with the Stokes family, and he (Donald) 'always regarded various members of the Stokes family as 'Grandad & Grandma, uncle and aunt.'
James continued his work for the Church after his miltary service. He was working in Whangamomona when Mary died, and he later worked in parishes in Palmerston North, Inglewood, Woodville, Gisborne and Auckland. He retired in 1951 and died in 1967, aged 80.