Charles A. Boyle

Charles A. Boyle
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 12th district
In office
January 3, 1955 – November 4, 1959
Preceded byEdgar A. Jonas
Succeeded byEdward Rowan Finnegan
Personal details
Born
Charles Augustus Boyle

(1907-08-13)August 13, 1907
Spring Lake, Michigan, U.S.
DiedNovember 4, 1959(1959-11-04) (aged 52)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseHelen L. Shaughnessy
RelativesLara Flynn Boyle (granddaughter)

Charles Augustus Boyle (August 13, 1907 – November 4, 1959) was a US Representative from Chicago's north side who represented Illinois's 12th congressional district from 1955 to his death in a car accident.

Boyle was born in Spring Lake, Michigan on August 13, 1907, the son of Rose (née Marsh) and Michael Melvin Boyle.[1] His paternal grandparents were Irish. Boyle was a Democrat and the father of eight children.

First elected in 1954, Boyle was in his third term and was on his way home on November 4, 1959, after he had campaigned for his fellow Democrats in elections the day before. He died after his car had crashed into an elevated train pillar on North Western Avenue. Police speculated that Boyle had either fallen asleep or been cut off by another car.[2] The 12th district went unrepresented for more than a year until after the 1960 general elections, when the Democrat Edward Rowan Finnegan defeated Theodore P. Fields.[3]

He and his wife, Helen L. (née Shaughnessy), were the grandparents of actress Lara Flynn Boyle.[4][5]

  1. ^ "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Boyle".
  2. ^ "Rep. Boyle, Illinois, Dies In Car Crash", Oshkosh (Wis.) Daily Northwestern, November 4, 1959, p. 1
  3. ^ BOYLE, Charles Augustus - Biographical Information
  4. ^ "REP. BOYLE IS KILLED; Car Smashes into an Elevated Pillar in Chicago". The New York Times. 5 November 1959.
  5. ^ [1][dead link]