Boyd-Rochfort was born at Middleton Park House, County Westmeath, Ireland on 1 January 1880.
Boyd-Rochfort was 35 years old, and a second lieutenant in the Scots Guards, British Army, (Special Reserve, attached to 1st Battalion) during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 3 August 1915 between Cambrin and La Bassée, France, a German trench-mortar bomb landed on the side of the parapet of the communication trench in which Second Lieutenant Boyd-Rochfort was standing close to a small working party of his battalion. Instead of stepping back into safety he shouted to his men to look out, rushed at the bomb, seized it and hurled it over the parapet where it at once exploded. This combination of presence of mind and courage saved the lives of many of the working party.
Boyd-Rochfort later achieved the rank of captain. Boyd-Rochfort was a noted jockey and after the war become a racehorse trainer like his brother Cecil Boyd-Rochfort. He died at Dublin on 7 August 1940.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at Scots Guards Regimental Headquarters in Wellington Barracks, London.
