A kidney-shaped dressing table which served as a fly-tying workbench for one of Britain best known salmon fly specialists – Miss Megan Boyd – will be sold by Bonhams in Honiton on May 12th.
Megan Boyd made fly’s for some of the country’s best known salmon fly fishing anglers including Prince Charles and Princess Diana. And part of Lot 321 in the sale is the correspondence with her clients and tools she used in making her famed flies.
A quantity of correspondence from past clients both in the UK and overseas include notes and telegrams from Prince Charles, Sir Alan Lascelles, Veniards, Farlow’s, Lord Blafour of Inchrye, Frederick Eaton, J. F. Donly, Donald Overfield and Mrs.Tyser. Included in the sale is Ms Boyd’s fly-tying vice and selection of tying tools including bobbin holders, tweezers and scissors together with the compartmented desk drawer which sat on top of her desk with many of these items.
A kind telegram from Prince Charles dated 24 May 1988 found with her papers says: “I was very sad to learn that failing eyesight has forced you to abandon the craft at which you so excelled. I know that your skills will be missed amongst the fly fishing community but your many friends will now be glad to see your return to Brora. I did so want to send you every possible good wish.”
In a poignant draft note from Mss Boyd to Prince Charles, she offers good wishes to him and Lady Diana for their marriage wishing them “a lifetime of peace and happiness.” The note accompanied a fly which she asks Prince Charles to give to Lady Diana. She adds: “Tell her you now have the best catch you will ever have……”
It is believed that some of Miss Boyd’s salmon flies attracted prices in the region of $1,000. Bonhams sold a small box of her flies some time ago for £600. Miss Megan Boyd – fly dresser extraordinary was born on January 29th 1915 and died on November 15th 2001 aged 86. Although she never fished herself, she is considered to be one of the world’s greatest exponents of the art of fly tying. For more than fifty years she perfected and extended the art of salmon fly dressing, working at her kidney shaped dressing table which she used as a workbench in her garden shed at Kintradwell, overlooking the North Sea. Megan Boyd’s home in Sutherland did not have electricity until the mid 1980’s by which time her eyesight was fading and she reluctantly retired. In 1971 she was awarded the British Empire Medal.
This important collection which has never been on the market before was left by Miss Boyd to Jimmy Younger, and his wife, a well established fly-tying duo, based in Scotland. Megan Boyd’s obituary in The London Times, November 26 2001 stated: “One of the world’s greatest perfectionists in the art of tying fishing flies though she never fished herself Megan Boyd, of Brora in Sutherland, was hailed by many as the finest tier of fishing flies in the world. She began tying flies at the age of 12 under the expert tutelage of a Sutherland keeper, Bob Trussler, and quickly became an artist in the craft. She made her reputation by tying classic and traditional flies such as the Jock Scott, Silver Doctor, Durham Ranger and Wilkinson. She rarely bothered to invent a new tying, though some of the most complicated patterns that she tied can only be produced by an expert of her calibre.” “As a dedicated conservationist she was a major supporter of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund and its efforts to buy out all the salmon nets which obstruct the return of the small remaining stocks of wild salmon to their native rivers to spawn. She regularly donated wonderful examples of her flies to be auctioned around the world to help this cause. For most of her life she was full of energy, and she was a much-loved local figure. Country dancing was her favourite relaxation, and she took an active role in helping the old and disabled locally. Electricity did not reach her house until 1985, when she was already 70 and suffering, not surprisingly, from failing eyesight. A few years later she was forced to retire. But her talk always came back to salmon flies and their history, the dressings and the vast number of renowned fishermen friends she had made during her lifetime. She remembered Charles H. Akroyd, the veteran sportsman from Duncraggie who devised the Akroyd fly, sometimes called the poor man’s Jock Scott. He had visited Iceland’s Big Laxá river in 1877. In 1971 Boyd was awarded the British Empire Medal. Last year the Prince of Wales honoured her with a visit, and she later said that they had discussed the Popham, a very great fly. she said that if she had to pick a favourite, this glorious creation would be her choice. Originated by F. L. Popham, the pattern is one of the most complicated and beautifully constructed of all the classic dressings that Britain has given to the sport.”
“She gave the angling world one creation that will ensure that salmon fishermen never forget her name. With the help of a friend and a client, Jim Pilkington, she devised a fly that became widely known as the Megan Boyd, and it became her trademark in dealing with fishermen around the world. This blue-and-black fly catches salmon ether tied in the normal manner on a single hook or as a tube fly. many fishermen swear that a tiny Megan Boyd, which she dressed on a minute tube with a size 18 treble, will catch salmon in dead low summer flows when most anglers would not expect any sport. Carefully used, with a gentle touch, these little flies have often saved some of Megan Boyd’s more knowledgeable customers from a blank day. Rosina Megan Boyd was the youngest of three children. She is thought to have been born in England in 1915, and was taken to Scotland in 1918 when her father became a bailiff or river watcher on a Sutherland estate. During the Second World War she had various jobs, including a spell doing a milk round and duties as an auxiliary coastguard. Although she seems to have had little formal education, she was never at a loss when dealing with her many distinguished customers.
For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of more than 40 Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com
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