Boyd, George Taylor (George)
Lance Corporal
No. 17293, ‘B’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 (aged 21)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Thiepval Memorial, France (Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B)
Comber and District War Memorial
First Comber Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY
George Taylor Boyd was born in Scotland and he was a son of Hugh and Marion Boyd (nee Taylor, born in Scotland) who were married around 1883.
The Boyd family lived in High Street, Comber after they came to Ireland from Scotland in the 1890s.
Hugh Boyd worked as a butcher, Marion worked as a dressmaker and they had three children:
George (born around 1894 in Scotland)
Grace (born 17 May 1898 in High Street, Comber)
Mary (born 20 April 1906 in High Street, Comber; died of spina bifida on 20 October 1906 in High Street, Comber)
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War George Boyd worked as a labourer in a spinning mill.
George Boyd enlisted in Comber and served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Lance Corporal George Taylor Boyd (No. 17293) was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and there is a story in the family archives that George’s death was witnessed at very close quarters by local man Girvan Strange when George’s body fell on top of him.
Lance Corporal George Taylor Boyd (No. 17293) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France; on Comber and District War Memorial and in First Comber Presbyterian Church.