Edward James Boys

Edward James Boys (19 September 1916 – 1 July 2002) was a leading authority on the men of the cavalry regiments of the British Army who took part in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade of 1854 during the Crimean War of 1854–1856 between the United Kingdom and Russia.

Boys took early retirement from the Prison Service in 1968, and then worked for a number of years for the Ministry of Defence, inspecting the manufacture of military equipment.

He corresponded with descendants and wider-family members, modern-day regiments, and other organisations and individuals throughout the world, including the noted Charge of the Light Brigade historian Canon William Lummis, seeking and exchanging information, photographs and transcripts of letters and other published and unpublished documents.

[1] As a result of his research, Jim Boys accumulated a substantial collection of contemporary material – photographs, paintings and other images, letters and autobiographies (including accounts of the Charge never previously published).

[4] The result is widely regarded among many historians as being the most complete and authoritative record of the lives of men of the Light Brigade, and their families, in existence.