James Arthur Boyd was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Ayrshire

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, he was educated at St John's Academy in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 before becoming an apprentice painter. He migrated to Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia, in 1885, where he had many occupations, including councillor on Port Melbourne Council

City of Port Phillip

The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....

. In 1901 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 for the seat of Melbourne

Electoral district of Melbourne

The Electoral district of Melbourne is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is currently based around the localities of Carlton, North Carlton, Melbourne, East Melbourne, West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Newmarket, Kensington and Flemington, and includes Melbourne...

 as a Conservative. He was an Honorary Minister 1907-08. In 1908 he left the Assembly, and in 1913 he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 as the Liberal

Commonwealth Liberal Party

The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation....

 member for the new seat of Henty

Division of Henty

The Division of Henty was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1913 and abolished in 1990. It was named for the Henty family of Portland, the first European settlers in Victoria. It was located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including at various times...

. In 1917 the Liberal Party merged with the National Labor Party

National Labor Party

The National Labor Party was the name used by the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes for himself and his followers after he was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in November 1916 over his pro-conscription stance in relation to World War I...

 to become the Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

, of which Boyd was a member. He held the seat until 1919, when he was defeated by independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 Nationalist Frederick Francis

Frederick Francis (Australian politician)

Frederick Henry Francis was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne, he was a builder and Malvern City Councillor before entering federal politics. In 1919, he contested the Australian House of Representatives seat of Henty as an independent Nationalist and defeated the sitting Nationalist MP,...

, despite having almost double Francis's primary vote. He became a businessman after leaving politics, and was President of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce 1920-1922 and of the Associated Chambers of Australia 1922-1923. Boyd died in 1941.