The Boyd Antecedents &The First Boyd The Boyds of Kilmarnock The Boyds of Crosspatrick The Boyds in Australia
& New Zealand
Martin Boyd

BOYD, Martin (à Beckett) 10 June, 1893-1972
(pseudonyms Martin Mills and Walter Beckett)

Writer and poet, born in Lucerne, Switzerland, the younger son of Arthur Merric Boyd and Minnie a'Beckett.

Brought up in Melbourne, he Trinity Grammar School in Kew as a boarder

He then studied theology at St John's College in 1912 but left within a year.

He then aarticled to the firm of Purchas and Teague to train as an architect.

In 1927 he wrote 'Domestic Architecture in Australia' a summary of the ideas he developed in his time with Purchas and Teague.

His first novels, such as The Montforts (1928), appeared under pseudonyms.

His best work is now referred to as the Langton tetralogy:

The Cardboard Crown (1952),
A Difficult Young Man (1955),
Outbreak of Love (1957), and
When Blackbirds Sing (1962).

His Novel: Lucinda Brayford was made into an Australian Television mini-series (I was an extra in it)

A complete list of his published work:

    • Verses by M.a'B.B. (London ?, The Author, c. 1919)
    • Retrospect (Melbourne, J. J. Champion, Australiasian Authors' Agency)
    • Love Gods by Martin Mills (London, Constable)
    • Brangane: A Memoir by Martin Mills (London, Constable)
    • The Aristocrat: A Memoir by Martin Mills (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1928)
    • The Madeleine Heritage by Martin Mills (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1928)
    • The Montforts by Martin Mills (London, Constable, 1928 - Revised edition of the Madeleine Heritage)
    • Dearest Idol by Walter Beckett (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1929)
    • Scandal of Spring (London, Dent, 1934)
    • The Lemon Farm (London, Dent, 1935)
    • The Painted Princess: A Fairy Story. Illustrated by Jocelyn Crowe (London Constable, 1936)
    • The Picnic (London, Dent, 1937)
    • Night of the Party (London, Dent, 1938)
    • A Single Flame (London, Dent, 1939)
    • Nuns in Jeopardy (London, Dent, 1940)
    • Lucinda Brayford (London, Cresset Press, 1946)
    • Such Pleasure (London, Cresset Press, 1949)
    • The Cardboard Crown (London, Cresset Press 1952)
    • A Difficult Young Man (London, Cresset Press 1955)
    • Outbreak of Love (London, John Murray 1957)
    • Much Else in Italy: a Subjective Travel Book (London, MacMillian, 1958)
    • When Blackbirds Sing (London, Abelard-Schuman, 1962)
    • The Montforts. Revised Edition. (Adelaide, Rigby, 1963)
    • Day of My Delight: An Anglo-Australian Memoir (Melbourne, Lansdowne, 1965)
    • The Tea-Time of Love: The Clarification of Miss Stilby (London, Bles, 1969)
    • Why They Walk Out: An Essay in Seven Parts (Rome, The Author, 1970)