He and his wife, Doris, raised noted Australian artists, painters Arthur and David, and sculptor Guy.Their eldest daughter Lucy's ceramic painting benefited greatly from her unique inheritance.

The family moved permanently to the family farm at Yarra Glen and Boyd attended Dookie Agricultural College with aspirations of turning his hand to farming; and then he considered entering the Church of England as a clergyman, spending time studying at St John's Theological College, Melbourne;[3] later Martin Boyd's good available material for his award-winning 1955 novel, A Difficult Young Man.

[5] In 1915 he married Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Gough, a fellow student and painter and they settled at Murrumbeena in the house and its surround entitled "Open Country".

Before so he undertook six months training in pottery technique at Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Stoke-on-Trent,[4] and studying in the diploma under Dr. Mellor at Stoke Technical School, and kiln construction under Mr. S. T. Wilson, former President of the English Ceramic Society.

[6] Boyd worked commercially and was able to provide for his family as he and Doris raised painters Arthur and David, and sculptor Guy and their two daughters Lucy and Mary.