Ignatius Boyle

Who was Ignatius Boyle?

Ignatius George Boyle was a politician from Western Australia. He was educated at Christian Brothers College, Perth and left school in 1897 for a job in the Western Australian Government Railways.

He married Catherine Mary Murphy on 9 September 1908. Together they had four children.

Boyle became a member of the Albany Municipal Council in 1915-1920 and stood for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Toodyay in 1924 and 1927, on both occasions losing to fellow Country Party member and minister, John Lindsay. When Lindsay transferred to Mount Marshall, Boyle tried again but was beaten by another Country Party candidate, Lindsay Thorn.

He was president of the Wheatgrowers' Union from 1931–1935 and chairman of directors of its newsletter, The Wheatgrower.

In May 1935, he accepted the Country Party's nomination to contest a by-election for the seat of Avon following the death of Harry Griffiths. He served as the member for Avon until the 1943 election, at which time he was defeated on a 15-vote margin by Labor candidate William Telfer. He appealed the result to the Court of Disputed Returns, who ordered a fresh election, but Telfer won by 298 votes at the by-election on 1 June 1944. He stood unsuccessfully for the Senate just two years later.