| Admin_History | Fr John Desmond Boyle SJ was born on 29 August 1897. He was educated at Wimbledon College and St Francis Xavier’s, Liverpool, and entered the Novitiate on 7 September 1913. At the age of 19 during World War II he went to teach for three years before returning to complete his Philosophy.
After reading Classical Moderations and Greats at Campion Hall, Oxford, he went as one of the pioneer theologians to Heythrop in 1926 and was later ordained priest on 31 July 1929. Following his Tertianship (1931) he went straight into the post of Prefect of Studies at Beaumont College, Old Windsor, where he remained until 1950. For his last three years at Beaumont, he was both Rector and Prefect of Studies. At Beaumont he took charge of the choir with the assistance of Thomas Clayton. Alongside this, he was keen to develop the school’s standard of literary appreciation. For many years, he produced the schools main dramatic enterprise, the Higher Line Play. His major productions include Hamlet (twice) and James Elroy Flecker’s Hassan.
Fr Boyle was Rector of Beaumont, Heythrop, and Stonyhurst. During his time as Provincial of the British Province he paid a three month long to the Salisbury Mission and launched the Novitiate there. He attended the General Congregation in Rome in 1957. After his Provincialate, Fr Boyle went as Rector to Stonyhurst for six years. In 1967, he moved back to Beaumont as Spiritual Father for the last three years of the school’s life.
When Beaumont closed in 1967, Fr Boyle moved to St John’s Preparatory School, the feeder-school to Beaumont. He became Spiritual Father to this new community, and taught Religious Education up to 1975. He died on 12 October 1982. |