vi 



in 1854 he was transferred to Agra, on the reorganisation of the 

 P.W. Department, as Chief Engineer to the Government of the "N.W. 

 Provinces. In addition to the duties of the former office, while at 

 Ambala he undertook to codify and co-ordinate the chaotic mass of 

 Standing Orders of the Department, extending over a period of nearly 

 seventy years. The result of this voluntary labour, Boileau's Code as it 

 was called, to which he added a full Index and Series of Forms, was 

 printed at the expense of Government, and became some years later a 

 most valuable aid when a Committee was appointed by Government to 

 draw up a systematic code of rules and procedure for the Department. 



Colonel Boileau retired from the Service February 24th, 1857, with 

 the usual honorary step which made him Major -General. 



Boileau's life in India had been characterised by acuteness and 

 vivacity of intellect, by an unresting and devouring activity of mind, 

 and by extraordinary versatility and variety of work. He hardly 

 attained the success that some of these qualities would have led one 

 to expect, but at the same time the list perhaps suggests some reasons 

 for this. And it is a fact that his joyous and buoyant temperament, 

 indeed his exuberant spirits, often showing themselves in proceedings 

 of an eccentric character, made him better known to the Anglo-Indian 

 community than his intellectual gifts or practical accomplishments. 

 Indeed, his sayings and doings were the subject of many widely 

 current anecdotes, which, in some cases, were founded on the merest 

 iota of fact, and in some others were purely mythical. 



It was really in the thirty years of life following his retirement 

 that Boileau's best qualities were drawn out to most valuable 

 purpose, and won him wide and warm regard. He was, to be sure, as 

 versatile and active as ever ; thus he became the most energetic of 

 vestrymen at Kensington, and as Chairman of the Building Committee 

 which erected the handsome Town Hall there, he was indefatigable 

 in his supervision of the work and of its financial details. He was 

 for years a most zealous member of the Volunteer body, in which, 

 however, he steadfastly declined the command of his corps (the 

 1st Middlesex Rifles) which was pressed on him, insisting on carrying 

 his rifle as a private in the ranks. He was for some time on the 

 Council of the Royal Society, and acted as auditor of its accounts ; 

 besides serving actively at one time or another on the Committees of 

 various charitable, religious, or other useful Societies. But that 

 which especially developed in General Boileau, and characterised him 

 for the last twenty years of his life, was the active practical benevo- 

 lence and devotion to the work he took upon himself as Committeeman, 

 and eventual Chairman, of two noble institutions, viz., that of the 

 Soldiers' Daughters' Home at Hampstead, and that of the Officers' 

 Daughters' School at Bath (the latter having also for some years a 

 succursal at Roehampton). To these institutions he grudged no 



