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Newry Maritime Association is to host a tribute event for Boyds Stores, the oldest independent trader in the city, as part of its first major event of the year. The gathering will take place on Sunday, 28 June at *1pm at Boyds Stores, Hill Street, with all welcome to attend. A special publication compiled by James McArevey has been printed for the occasion.
Boyds was established in 1881, making it 145 years old, and the event will focus on the history of the Hill Street store as well as the relevance of the Dundalk & Newry Steam Packet Co to the commercial life of Newry.
The Boyd family's connection to the town stretches back more than two centuries, with origins on Church Street and their involvement in Newry's commercial life tracing back over 200 years. Andrew Boyd, born in 1798, was an affluent merchant involved in a wide range of business activities. He owned several houses around Church Street, where he operated a public house and grocery business, and he owned a cornmill and a quarry on the Windmill Road, as well as an extensive brickyard and kilns in the shadow of St Patrick's Church. From 25 Lower North Street, he ran a farm supplies and hardware business, and he also owned 35 acres of farmland in Grinan. Most notably, he imported cargoes of guano, a premium organic fertiliser made from bird droppings, from South America through the Port of Newry.
Andrew Boyd married Esther Russell in Newry Cathedral in January 1837, when he was 39 and she was 13 years his junior. The couple had nine children, five boys and four girls. Andrew Russell Boyd later joined his father in the business, while the eldest daughter, Esther, entered the Newry convent of the Sisters of Mercy in 1876 at the age of 34. Taking the religious name Sr Mary Gabriel, she spent 56 years in the Order and died in 1932, aged 90.
The business known today as Boyds Stores was established by the eighth of the nine siblings, Patrick Russell Boyd, who was born on 12 September 1852. Patrick served an apprenticeship as an ironmonger in Dublin before returning to Newry to take up a job with local merchant John Quinn. In 1879, he opened his own ironmongery and hardware business at 58 Hill Street.
Patrick travelled regularly to Liverpool aboard the Dundalk & Newry Steam Packet Co's passenger service to source products for his expanding business. On one of his trips into the industrial Islington area, near Lime Street railway station, he discovered Grimshaw's, a family firm manufacturing bespoke perambulators, an encounter that proved to be a life-changing experience for him.
As a result of this Patrick Russell Boyd married Agnes Grimshaw and their son Andrew Maguire Boyd was next to take up the business. He married Margaret Rose McKitterick and their son Russell was next to take control. He married Mary McEnery and their son Andrew Maguire Boyd is the current incumbent.
Today, Boyds Stores offers more than 10,000 lines for sale annually, with an assurance of quality service and value for money. Now in its fourth generation of family ownership, the business has endured since 1879 and is recognised as Newry's oldest independent trader. Universally known as "Andy Boyds", the store remains a key part of the shopping experience in Newry.
EDIT
* Event is at 1pm and not 2pm
