Julian Boyd (whose name before 1919 was Julian Boyd Aarons) died in California on 8th March, 1953, at the age of 77.
Born in Australia, he was educated at the New South Wales Grammar School and the University of Sydney, and in 1895 entered the Royal School of Mines London, obtaining the A.R.S.M. in mining and metallurgy in 1899.
He returned to Australia in 1900 to serve an apprenticeship with Great Boulder (Proprietary) Gold Mines, Ltd., and Great Boulder No.1, Ltd. From 1902 to 1903 he held the position of metallurgist with Rhodesia, Ltd., at the Sabiwa Company’s gold mine at Gwanda, Southern Rhodesia, later in 1903 working as assayer and surveyor at the Imani Gold Mining Co., Ltd., and V.V. (Gwanda) Syndicate, Ltd. He returned to Australia in June, 1904, to join the staff of Messrs. Bewick Moreing & Co., being superintendent, and later manager, of White Feather Main Reefs, Ltd., at Kanowna from 1904 to 1905, manager of Boulder Deep Levels, Ltd., Kalgoorlie, from 1905 to 1906, and of Vivien Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Harris, from 1907 to 1908. Mr. Boyd was appointed general manager of Chaffers Gold Mining Co., Ltd., in 1909, and was also consulting engineer to Bullfinch East gold mine in Western Australia until 1914.
During the 1914-1918 war he served with the Australian Imperial Force and attained the rank of major, serving in France in 1916 and 1917. From 1917 to 1919 he was Permanent President of Courts Martial of A.I.F. Depots in the United Kingdom.
On demobilization Mr. Boyd went to the U.S.A. in 1920 and held the position of superintendent of mines at Pacific Coast Borax Co., the American branch of Borax Consolidated, Ltd., London, for eight years. He subsequently held the position of consulting mining engineer to that company until his retirement in 1946, and was also, during that period, in private practice as consulting mining engineer at Los Angeles, California. In 1943 Mr. Boyd was made a director of the United States Borax Co., being appointed President in 1949 and holding that position until his death in 1953.
Mr. Boyd was awarded ‘His Majesty’s Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom’ in 1947.
Mr. Boyd was elected a Student of the Institution in 1900, was transferred to Associate Membership in 1905, and to Membership in 1908. He was also a member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
Vol. 62, Trans I.M.M. 1952-53, pp. 561
