In January 1791, when styled Viscount Dungarvan, he hired a prostitute named Elizabeth Weldon from the
Covent Garden Theatre and went to her home in
Hackney, London. She then attempted to extort him, and when he refused, she accused him of stealing three and a half guineas from her (). Dungarvan was put on trial at the
Old Bailey, where a jury found him not guilty. The judge nonetheless admonished him, telling him from the bench, "My Lord Dungarvan, it is but justice to you to say, that it is impossible for you to go from this bar with the least imputation on your character. Of the impudence that brought you into the situation I say nothing, as you yourself seem to be perfectly sensible of it." On 9 October 1795, he married his first cousin Isabella Henrietta Poyntz (d. 29 November 1843), daughter of William Poyntz (1734–1809) and his wife Isabella, daughter of Kellond Courtenay. His younger brother,
Sir Courtenay Boyle, later married Isabella Henrietta's sister Carolina Amelia in 1799; the sisters' brother was
William Stephen Poyntz MP. Edmund and Isabella had nine children: • Lady Isabella Elizabeth Boyle (4 February 1797 – 27 December 1829) • Edmund William Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan (2 April 1798 – 1 January 1826) • Hon. George Richard Boyle (22 September 1799 – 8 September 1810) • Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan (6 December 1800 – 25 August 1834), married on 18 March 1828 Lady Catherine St Lawrence, daughter of
William St Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Howth, and had issue, including
Richard Boyle, 9th Earl of Cork and
William George Boyle. • Hon.
John Boyle (13 March 1803 – 6 December 1874), married on 10 December 1835 Hon. Cecilia de Ros, daughter of
Lord Henry FitzGerald, and had issue • Lady Lucy Georgina Boyle (19 March 1804 – 31 August 1827) • Lady Louisa Boyle (16 September 1806 – 30 May 1826) • Lt-Col Hon.
Robert Edward Boyle (1809–1854) • Rev. Hon. Richard Cavendish Boyle (28 February 1812 – 30 March 1886), chaplain to Queen Victoria, married
Eleanor Vere Gordon, daughter of
Alexander Gordon and had issue. In Somerset, he lived at Marston House within the grounds of
Marston Bigot Park. He employed
Jeffry Wyattville in 1817 to embellish the central block with four
Ionic columns. Wyattville was known locally for his work at
Longleat and then at the
Church of St John the Baptist, Frome in the same decade. In 1821, on the corner of the then-named Hill Street and the Market Place in
Frome, the Earl was persuaded by
Thomas Bunn to build an Assembly Room above a covered market, in the style of the Greek revival; in 1822, the street was renamed Cork Street. He had been shown by Bunn an image of the Roman Forum as 'a good design for a modern market-place'; he had demurred and 'thought of economy and said it would not pay'. Bunn's persuasion paid off; it remains one of Frome's notable buildings, now a bank with the ground floor enclosed. They worked together on various other projects, including the National and Christ Church Schools, with the Earl as the chair of the committee. The Earl contributed to local charities such as the Blanket Fund and the Coal Fund, both for the relief of the poor, and chaired meetings of the Frome Savings Bank. Thomas Bunn thought highly of him as 'a kind friend to the inhabitants of Frome'. In November 1838 he recorded an incident in the Magistrate's Court when, finding the room very crowded, the Earl took up his own coat from the bench beside him and offered Bunn a seat: 'not as a mark of attention to me but of gentlemanly conduct'. He died on 29 June 1856 and was succeeded by his grandson
Richard. In 1857 his youngest son, Richard Boyle, vicar of Marston, had a school and schoolhouse built "For The Benefit of The Poor And in Memory of His father" on Tuckmarsh Lane along the southeast boundary of the family estate. ==References==