User:Quasihuman/Charles Boycott

Early life and family
Charles Cunningham Boycott (formerly Boycatt) was born on the 12th March, 1832 to Georgiana and the Reverend William Boycatt. He grew up in the village of Burgh St Peter in Norfolk, England. The Boycatt/Boycott family had been settled in Norfolk for almost one hundred and fifty years. His family was originally of Huguenot origin, and had fled from France in 1685 when Louis XIV revoked civil and religious liberties to French protestants. For reasons unknown, the family changed the spelling of its name in 1841 from Boycatt to Boycott. Charles was educated in Blackheath boarding school. From an early age, he expressed an interest in entering the military and in 1848, he entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich with the intention of entering the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. Boycott was discharged from the academy in 1849 after failing a periodic exam. In 1850, a commission was bought for him for the sum of £450 in the 39th Foot regiment.

Shortly after Boycott joining the 39th Foot, the regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wright C.B., sailed to Belfast, in what is now Northern Ireland. After six months in Belfast, the regiment some time in Newry, and then marched to Dublin, where they spent a year. In Dublin, Boycott met Anne Dunne, and they married in St Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin in 1852. During his period in the 39th Foot, Boycott was ill for seven continuous months between August 1851 and Febuary 1852. Due in part to his illness, he decided to sell his commission in 1853.