of his parish and especially the position of men and women too old to work. He believed in old-age pensions, and on 9 September 1895 wrote to the Sydney Daily Telegraph advocating the appointment of a committee to inquire into and report on this question. Early in 1896 he called a meeting to form a pensions league. J. C. Neild had also been advocating the granting of pensions in parliament, and eventually a committee was appointed which recommended that pensions should be paid out of the public revenue. Boyce worked hard to keep the question before the public, but it was not until the end of the 19th century that pensions became law. The first pensions were paid on 1 July 1901. Boyce was an ardent Imperialist, and when the question of having an Empire Day was raised in 1902 he supported the suggestion with enthusiasm. He was spokesman of a deputation which waited on Sir Edmund Barton, the prime minister, and he continued his efforts for it until it was founded on 24 May 1905. Boyce was first president of the British Empire League in Australia in 1901 and also in 1909-11. Late life At meetings of the synod of the diocese of Sydney, Boyce took an important part, and he continued active work in his parish until extreme old age. He resigned his arch-deaconry in 1930 and died at Blackheath, New South Wales on 27 May 1931. He was married twice; firstly to Caroline, daughter of William Stewart, who died in 1918, and secondly to Mrs Ethel Burton, who survived him, with two sons by the first marriage. The elder son, Francis Stewart Boyce (1872-1940), became a KC in 1924 and a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1932. Honours Mount Boyce is named in honour of Venerable Archdeacon Boyce. Memorials to Boyce were placed in the Sydney and Bathurst cathedrals and his portrait by Julian Ashton was presented to the National Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1917. His memoirs were published posthumously in 1934 as Four-Score Years and Seven. References 1844 births 1931 deaths People from Tiverton, Devon 19th-century Australian Anglican priests 20th-century Australian Anglican priests