The 1911
Census shows that Prestwick Hall was occupied by 71 year old William Boyd and his of 40 years, 70 year
old Jane Diana together with cook, Ellen Brown and 4 other female servants.
William Boyd, born in Arncliffe, Yorkshire, birth, first came to Wallsend in 1874,
when he was invited to become managing director of the Wallsend Slipway Co. Under
his direction the small shipyard became a major marine engine building concern,
erecting the first steel boilers on the Tyne in 1878. Mr Boyd retired from management at
the end of 1911.
He
was involved in Wallsend local government from May 1878, when he became a
member of the Local Board of Health. In April of the following year he was
elected chairman of the board, and served in that position until 1894, when it
was replaced by the new district council, of which he became the first
chairman. Mr Boyd was elected an Alderman and first Mayor of the new council
and continued to serve until October 2, 1906. On Wednesday, June 19,
1907, William Boyd laid
the foundation stone for Wallsend's new Town Hall when a Freedom Ceremony was
opened for him. By this time he had moved to Cheltenham, where he died in 1919.
The North
East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders was founded in November
1884 at the instigation of William Geddes Spence (1860-1946) of R.W. Hawthorn's
marine engine works. William Boyd (1839-1919) Managing Director of the Wallsend
Slipway and Engineering Works served as its first President and is widely
recognised as being the leading force behind the Institution's creation.
