Boyd subsequently, between October 1830 and May 1831, attended Edinburgh University whilst he maintained a connection with the mining industry at Towneley Main Colliery.

He subsequent to his return from Edinburgh University accompanied Matthias Dunn, who was a mine inspector, on visitations to various collieries in Scotland including Prestongrange, Kilmarnock, Middleton and Dalmellington in Ayrshire.

[1] The bank engulfed his inheritance from his father as well as his private savings leaving him with a young family in need of education with very minimal funds to do so hence he was forced to begin rebuilding his fortunes a fresh.

Forster, Sir George Elliot, 1st Baronet and Edward Sinclair (all of which were present at the inquest of the Seaton explosion) joined forty four coal owners and subsequently founded ‘The North of England Society for the Prevention of Accidents and for other Purposes Connected with Mining’.

[5] Boyd played a significant role in the foundation of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers and his reliability led to his appointment as Treasurer from the inauguration of the NEIMME until 1869.

[5] Fortunately, Boyd’s presidency fell during a period of flourishing trade in the district in which there was a strong demand for young men of ability and energy to manage the industries of the area.

[5] With a growth in prosperity and a demand for training in such industries, Boyd was led to believe that the community would be more forthcoming, economically and socially, with supporting the foundation of the college.

Boyd believed education would ‘elevate the general tone of the community, and conduce to the honour and prosperity of the nation, and enable it to develop the vast industrial advantages which it possesses’.

Lake proposed that the University of Durham were to give £1000 per annum for six years towards the expenses of establishing a College at Newcastle, provided that a similar sum for the like term could be guaranteed from other sources.

As previously stated, with the more prosperous nature of society, it was decided by the committee to appeal to the public for £30,000 with the desire that the College should be opened at its earliest opportunity, October 1871.

A student of such a discipline is trained to those rules of induction, of experiment and of verification and it gives a large knowledge of the immense world of material truth which nature can reveal.

The hall was erected in 1870, by public subscription, as a memorial to Nicholas Wood, the first President of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, after his death in December 1865.

[12] It was designed and built in the height of the Gothic revival by architect A.M. Dunn and it contains a large marble statue of a seated Nicholas Wood, created by Mr Wyon, overlooking the library.

This paper was the last of Edward Fenwick Boyd’s work to be read and disputed before the members of the Mining Institute before turning his focus and the remainder of his life to serving as a magistrate for the county.

However, as his physical health began to deteriorate in 1883 he was forced to retire back to Moor House ending all activity in both the court room and the Institute and he was put under the care of his daughter until his death on 31 August 1889.

[1] In addition to the published work of Edward Fenwick Boyd, his time as President of the Institute saw the opening of the College of Physical Science and the Nicholas Wood Memorial Hall; both of which were highly influential and significant projects.