Boyce was born at Peppers Mills, near Laurel, Sussex County, Del., November 28, 1855; attended the public schools and Laurel Academy; was principal of the public schools at Laurel 1875-1880 and at Oxford, Md., in 1880 and 1881; recorder of deeds for Sussex County at Georgetown 1881-1886; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1887 and practiced in Georgetown, Del., until 1897; president of the board of education 1883-1886; captain of Company G, Delaware National Guard, 1887-1890; president of the town commissioners 1895-1897; chairman of the Sussex County Democratic committee 1893-1897; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1896 and 1924; appointed secretary of State of Delaware January 19, 1897, and served until June 17, 1897, when he resigned; associate judge of the Delaware Supreme Court 1897-1921 and ex officio judicial reporter 1909-1921; retired June 15, 1921; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1923-March 3, 1925); renominated by acclamation but was unsuccessful for reelection in 1924 to the Sixty-ninth Congress; resumed the practice of law until retirement from active practice in 1936; died in Dover, Del., February 6, 1942; interment in Christ Church Cemetery.