Known as Cavendish Boyle, he was born in Barbados into an ancient Irish family, the son of Capt.

[2] His elder brother, Sir Courtenay Edmund Boyle, was also a civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade.

[1] Boyle joined the British Colonial Office and was made magistrate in the Leeward Islands in 1879.

[7] He stayed as such until 1904, and wrote poems to the island's rugged beauty including the Ode to Newfoundland which was adopted as the dominion's national anthem.

He continued his colonial career with a posting as the 19th Governor of Mauritius from 20 August 1904 to 10 April 1911, after which he retired to Brighton, England.