Person DS/UK/189 Boyle; John Desmond (1897-1982); Jesuit Priest Boyle John Desmond 1897-1982 Jesuit Priest Male Born 29 August 1897, Haverford West, Wales. Entered the English Province of the Society of Jesus 7 September 1913. Ordained as a Roman Catholic priest 31 July 1929. Final vows in the Society of Jesus 2 February 1932. Died 12 October 1982, St John’s Beaumont (Old Windsor), England.

John Desmond Boyle was born on the 29 August 1897. He was educated at Wimbledon College and St Francis Xavier’s, Liverpool, and entered the noviceship when he was only just 16. During WW1, at the age of 19, he went off to teach his own school and elsewhere for three and a half years, before returning to complete his philosophy. This meant that he had a straight run of formation from second year philosophy through to the tertianship. After reading Classical Moderations and Greats at Campion Hall, Oxford, he went as one of the pioneer theologians to Heythrop in 1926. From the tertianship he went straight, in 1931, to 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. Fr Boyle’s standards were high and he demanded high standards from others. In his 19 years at Beaumont he did much to achieve them. He had great affection for the students. The older boys found they could have a warm and stimulating relationship with him, founded on respect. Many of them turned to him, then and in after life, for guidance and counsel. He was also a great mixture of the classic and the romantic. Notably, he was very musical. At Beaumont he took charge of the choir with the tireless assistance of a musical jack-of-all-trades who served the College for 50 years, Thomas Clayton. Alongside his musical flair, Fr Boyle was keen to develop the school’s standard of literary appreciation. For years, he produced the school’s main dramatic enterprise, the Higher Line Play. His major productions includes Hamlet and (twice) James Elroy Flecker’s Hassan. Fr Boyle was Rector of Beaumont, Rector of Heythrop, Provincial, and Rector of Stonyhurst. During his time as Provincial, he paid a visit of three months to the Salisbury Mission and launched the novitiate there. He attended the General Congregation in Rome in 1957. On ceasing to be Provincial, 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. He was a great support to the community and to the old boys in a very difficult time. 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, when he suffered a heart attack. Fr Boyle died on the 12 October 1982. Member of the English Province of the Society of Jesus Catalogus Defunctorum 1970-1985 (Society of Jesus) National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes Archives 15/06/2010 user 25/01/2023 4d3149fe-131c-484e-848f-531e9e763e93