Crip Boyd was born of pioneer stock in Winnsboro to W.C. and Elizabeth Lyles Boyd. He married Frances Ancrum Boykin and was survived by her and their children, Ann Boyd Dunlap and W.C. Boyd III.
He was a graduate of Furman University and the University of South Carolina Law School. He was engaged in general practice in Columbia for over 45 years working with R. Beverley Sloan and Benet, Shand and McGowan. In 1915, with John E. Bruton and John H. Lumpkin, he formed the firm which became Boyd, Knowlton, Tate and Finlay.
He served as President of the Richland County Bar, as a member of the South Carolina and American Bar Associations, the American Judicature Society and the United States Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference.
He served as a Commander in the United States Naval Reserve in World War II, as President of the Columbia Cotillion Club and was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church.
He served his clients ably, soundly and diligently. As “beloved, esteemed and respected by the lawyers of this State as any man in the history of the Bar,” he epitomized the high standards and traditions of the profession he loved.