The passing of John (J.W.) Boyle has robbed Irish labour history of one of its founding fathers. Born on October 14th, 1914, he was the son of a bottler in the Guinness brewery. A scholarship eventually took him to Trinity College, Dublin, but his family background and the sacrifices of his two sisters gave a socialist, feminist base to his political formation. He excelled at Trinity, gaining a first class degree in Modern Languages and Economic and Political Science in 1937. He completed an M.A. in Old French and an M.Litt. in Anglo-Norman Poetry in 1939 before commencing a lengthy tenure as senior assistant in the Department of English and History at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute - his beloved "Inst". He lectured part-time in Queen's University Belfast, publishing on a wide range of economic, political and social history topics. He was awarded his doctorate by Trinity in 1961 for a study that was published as his magnum opus in 1988 as The Irish Labour Movement in the Nine- teenth Century.
In Belfast he met and married the love of his life - Elizabeth Morwood - and they became, the indivisibly, the Boyles. They were involved with the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) and such activity blocked academic promotion as he became labelled as an "anti-Union, Fenian Protestant". Worse, his home was searched and his family's security put at risk. In 1966 he became Associate Professor at the Department of History, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick. This migration to Canada was confirmed in 1972 when he was appointed to a professorship at the University of Guelph.
The Boyles were made welcome in their new environment and John was quickly writing of the historical experience of the Irish in north America. The Boyles were involved in the New Democratic Party and he often commented on the "missionary" nature of socialist agitation in their new homeland. The uphill struggle to present a similar message in Ireland no doubt stood them in very good stead.
Colleagues of Boyle remembered him for his "dedication ... integrity ... wholeness of character". He was unassuming and, despite his many qualifications and academic titles, simply signed himself on official documentation as "John Boyle, teacher". Teaching was indeed a true vocation and many have reason to be grateful for his time and consideration - always freely given. A letter from John Boyle - and he wrote frequently - was a joy and an education, a throwback to the origins of scholarly publishing when such correspondence was the only means of circulating and commenting on knowledge.
Boyle was an active supporter of the Irish Labour History Society (ILHS) and served on the Editorial Board of Saothar. The Boyles were regular attenders at ILHS events and the society presented them with a plaque that acknowledged their contribution as "makers and recorders of Irish labour history". He spoke at the 1994 Conference at University College, Dublin, that celebrated the Centenary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. His performance was polished, thoughtful and provocative in content and written in a prose style that reflected a man of letters, a person who possessed a huge understanding of Irish, European and north American culture and knew how the jigsaw was put together.
Boyle's beloved Elizabeth died three years to the day before his own death on November 16th last in Guelph, Ontario. Their memory will live on through a bequest made to the ILHS and, of course, in the corpus of their work. They leave a daughter, Liz, and grandchildren who have lost loving and exceptional parents and grandparents, Irish history has lost a substantial scholar, a studied voice that brought reason and erudition to all his endeavours.
F.D.