Born the second of four sons of Colonel Gerald Edmund Boyle (a grandson of the Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork) and to Lady Elizabeth Theresa Pepys (daughter of the Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham), "Ginger" Boyle joined the training ship HMS Britannia as a cadet on 15 January 1887.
Career
The short, ramrod-straight Lord Cork was called Ginger Boyle for his fiery red hair and disposition. His aristocratic air was enhanced by an ever-present monocle. The elderly salt was scheduled to retire from active service after heading the Home Fleet, but the unexpected death of Adm Sir William Fisher in 1937 left a vacancy which he was appointed to fill in the Portsmouth Command. In February 1938 he was selected for admiral of the fleet, another vacancy having occurred.
Still fully fit for active duty after the normal two year tour at Porstmouth in 1939 and seeking a war assignment, he was given charge of an expedition raised to assist the Finns in fighting off the Soviet invasion that began on 30 November 1939. But access was barred by Sweden, which hoped to remain neutral. Two days after Hitler attacked Norway on 8 April 1940. Cork was appointed Flag Officer Narvik in command of the forces that had been raised to fight in Finland. At Harstad, a small port just north of Narvik being used as the Allied base. Ginger Boyle first met Maj Gen P. Mackesy, the designated joint commander of army troops, whose brigade was already there. When the two proved to have what Lord Cork called “diametrically opposed views” the admiral was given overall command on 21 April of all forces committed to retake Narvik. From 7 May he also had operational control of Allied troops in the Mosjoen- Bodo area.
Gen Macksey directed the assault on Narvik which started 15 May 1940 with landings of British, French, and Polish units north of the port. These troops were supported by Norwegians under Gen Carl Fleischer. French and Norwegian troops took Narvik on 28 May by direct assault, and Eduard Dietl’s situation was desperate until a powerful German column moved north with air and naval support to drive Allied troops from the Mosjoen-Bodo area by 31 May. After destroying the dock facilities for Swedish iron ore that made Narvik so important strategically, Lord Cork extricated his forces on 8 June 1940.
In 1941 he headed an inquiry that vindicated Janies Somerville's decision to discontinue an indecisive naval action off Spartivento. A commanding presence to the end of a long life, Ginger Boyle died 19 April 1967 in London.
Connections
Boyle married, at St. Mary´s Roman Catholic Church, Chelsea, on 24 July 1902 Lady Florence Keppel (1871-1963), youngest daughter of the William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle. They had no children.