Benjamin Boyd

Benjamin Boyd
Portrait of Boyd, c. 1830s, State Library of New South Wales
Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales
In office
1 September 1844 (1844-09-01) – 1 August 1845 (1845-08-01)
ConstituencyElectoral district of Port Phillip
Personal details
Born(1801-08-21)21 August 1801
Wigtownshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died15 October 1851(1851-10-15) (aged 48)
Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
OccupationStockbroker, pastoralist, entrepreneur
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "honorific-prefix". Replace with "honorific_prefix".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "restingplacecoordinates". Replace with "resting_place_coordinates".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "restingplace". Replace with "resting_place".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "honorific-suffix". Replace with "honorific_suffix".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "smallimage". Replace with "image".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "otherparty". Replace with "other_party".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "birthname". Replace with "birth_name".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "imagesize". Replace with "image_size".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "nationality". It should be removed.

Benjamin Boyd (21 August 1801 – 15 October 1851) was a Scottish entrepreneur who became a major shipowner, banker, grazier, politician and blackbirder in the British colony of New South Wales. He was briefly a member of the Legislative Council.

Boyd became one of the largest landholders and graziers in the Colony of New South Wales before suffering financial difficulties and becoming bankrupt. Boyd briefly tried his luck on the Californian goldfields before venturing to establish a Pacific union, being purportedly murdered on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Many of his business ventures involved blackbirding, the practice of coercing South Sea Islanders to work in circumstances akin to slavery.