Born in Westminster, Middlesex, Boyle inherited the title of Viscount Shannon from his paternal grandfather, Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon, in 1699. On July 7, 1702, he married Mary Sackville, who tragically died twelve years later, bearing no children. In January 1720, Boyle remarried, this time to Grace Senhouse, and they had one child, Grace Boyle. In 1720, Boyle was constituted the Commander in Chief of the Irish military forces by King George II. In 1739, he received a promotion to the rank of field marshal; however, he died a year after receiving it.