Edward Courtney Boyle

Rear-Admiral Edward C. Boyle as Captain, July 1929.
Portrait: © National Portrait Gallery, London.

Rear-Admiral Edward Courtney Boyle, V.C., (23 March, 1883 – 16 December, 1967) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

The son of Edward Boyle, a retired Lt. Colonel in the Army, Edward was born in Cumberland.

Boyle placed ninth of sixty-one cadets passing out of Britannia in August 1899, earning 1730 of 2250 possible marks.

Boyle was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 December, 1904. He was appointed in command of one or more submarines on 1 April, 1906, but in the style of the day, the identity of the submarines is not recorded in the service record. However, sometime in 1910 he was appointed in command of the submarine C 29.

Boyle was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 15 December, 1912.

Boyle was appointed in command of the submarine D 3 on 25 March, 1914.

Great War

On 19 October, 1914, he was appointed in command of the submarine E 14.

On 27 April, 1915, he took E 14 into the Sea of Marmora and preyed upon Turkish shipping within, sinking a gunboat on 3 May and ending enemy attempts to reinforce Gallipoli by sea. On 21 May, 1915, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in E 14.

Boyle was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1915.

On 10 August 1916 he was appointed to Titania for submarine service. Returning to England, on 18 September 1916 he was appointed to command the submarine J 5. He continued to serve in this boat until being appointed in command of the tender Platypus, and in command of her flotilla on 21 October, 1918. It is not clear how long this lasted, as it passed into service with the Royal Australian Navy, but it could have been as late as 1 January, 1923. With this appointment, he became Captain (S) of the "J" class submarines of the Royal Australian Navy.

Hacving been promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1920, in January, 1923, Boyle was appointed in command of the light cruiser Birmingham.

Boyle was appointed in command of the battleship Iron Duke on 14 August, 1929.

Boyle was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 18 October, 1932 and was placed on the Retired List the following day in accordance with the provisions of Order in Council of 9 March, 1914.

See Also

• Service Records
• Wikipedia

Naval Appointments
Preceded by ?	Captain of H.M.S. C 4 before Oct, 1908	Succeeded by Gilbert H. Kellett
Preceded by Alfred B. Prowse	Captain of H.M.S. C 29 Mar, 1910 – 21 Nov, 1911	Succeeded by Donald I. McGillewie
Preceded by Noel F. Laurence	Captain of H.M.S. D 2 21 Nov, 1911 – 8 Feb, 1913	Succeeded by Arthur G. Jameson
Preceded by Francis H. H. Goodhart	Captain of H.M.S. D 3 25 Mar, 1914 – 14 Oct, 1914	Succeeded by Robert R. Turner
Preceded by ?	Captain of H.M.S. E 14 14 Oct, 1914 – 10 Aug, 1916	Succeeded by Geoffrey S. White
Preceded by Cecil P. Talbot	Captain of H.M.S. J 5 18 Sep, 1916 – 11 Oct, 1918	Succeeded by Gilbert E. Venning
Preceded by Charles G. Brodie	Captain of H.M.S. Platypus 28 Oct, 1918 – after Mar, 1919	Succeeded by Maurice B. R. Blackwood as Captain of H.M.A.S. Platypus
Preceded by ?	Captain (S), Platypus's Flotilla 28 Oct, 1918 – after Mar, 1919	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by Francis H. Brabant	Captain of H.M.S. Birmingham 9 Jan, 1923 – 21 Apr, 1923	Succeeded by Bernard Buxton
Preceded by Patrick E. Parker	Captain of H.M.S. Carysfort 23 Apr, 1924 – 30 Apr, 1925[Inference]	Succeeded by G. Frederick B. Edward-Collins
Preceded by Kenneth G. B. Dewar	Captain of H.M.S. Iron Duke 14 Aug, 1929 – 1932[Inference]	Succeeded by Guy L. Coleridge