Edward James Boys
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Edward James Boys (E J Boys) (1916 – 2002) was a leading authority on the men of the cavalry regiments of the British Army who took part in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade of 1854 during the Crimean War of 1854-56 between the UK and Russia.
'Jim' Boys was tireless in the pursuit of information, and wherever possible he traced the life of every man of the Light Brigade from his birth through to his death, and in a number of cases traced their relatives to the present day to gain as much information as possible. The lives of many of these men are only recorded in the accounts he created.
For more than forty years Boys gathered information from a huge range of sources, including official records from the War Office, India Office, the Public Record Office, contemporary newspapers, census returns, church records, Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and many local and national libraries.
He corresponded with descendants and wider-family members, modern-day regiments, and other organisations and individuals throughout the world, including the noted Charge of the Light Brigade historian Canon William Lummis, seeking and exchanging information, photographs and transcripts of letters and other published and unpublished documents.
As a result of his research, Jim Boys accumulated a substantial collection of contemporary material – photographs, paintings and other images, letters and autobiographies (including accounts of the Charge never previously published). To these he added modern photographs of medals, memorials and gravestones, most of which he took himself. He also owned a private collection of Crimean War medals awarded to 'Chargers'.
The result is widely regarded among many historians as being the most complete and authoritative record of the lives of men of the Light Brigade, and their families, in existence. On his death his researches were deposited with the National Army Museum in London.
An on-line archive of the researches of E J Boys is currently being created.[1]
