Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/144

  are to be found in the numerous letters and papers, sometimes under his own name, and sometimes under the assumed name of 'Vedette,' contributed to the second series of 'Notes and Queries.' Of these the twelve papers on Chaucer difficulties are a most valuable contribution to the study of early English literature. He died 2 Sept. 1880, aged 88.

 BOYS, THOMAS SHOTTER (1803–1874), water-colour painter and lithographer, was born at Pentonville on 2 Jan. 1803. He was articled to George Cooke, the engraver, with the view of following that profession, but when, on the expiration of his apprenticeship, he visited Paris, he was induced by Bonington, under whom he studied, to devote himself to painting. He exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time in 1824, and in Paris in 1827. In 1830 he proceeded to Brussels, but on the outbreak of the revolution there returned to England. Paying another visit to Paris, he remained there until 1837, and then again came to England for the purpose of lithographing the works of David Roberts and Clarkson Stanfield. Boys's great work, 'Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen,' &c., appeared in 1839, and created much admiration. King Louis-Philippe sent the artist a ring in recognition of its merits. He also published 'Original Views of London as it is,' drawn and lithographed by himself, London, 1843. He drew the illustrations to Blackie's 'History of England,' and etched some plates for Ruskin's 'Stones of Venice.' Boys was a member of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and of several foreign artistic societies. He died in 1874. The British Museum possesses two fine views of Paris by him, drawn in water-colours, and another is in the South Kensington Museum.

 BOYS, WILLIAM (1735–1803), surgeon and topographer, was born at Deal on 7 Sept. 1735. He was of an old Kent family (, History of Kent, iii. 109), being the eldest son of Commodore William Boys, R.N., lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital, by his wife, Elizabeth Pearson of Deal (Gent. Mag. lxxiii. pt. i. 421-3). About 1755 he was a surgeon at Sandwich, where he was noted for his untiring explorations of Richborough Castle, for skill in deciphering ancient manuscripts and inscriptions, for his zeal in collecting antiquities connected with Sandwich, and for his studies in astronomy, natural history, and mathematics. In 1759 he married Elizabeth Wise, a daughter of Henry Wise, one of the Sandwich jurats (ib.), and by her he had two children. In 1761 he was elected jurat, acting with his wife's father. In the same year, 1761, she died, and in the next year, 1762, he married Jane Fuller, coheiress of her uncle, one John Paramor of Statenborough (ib.) In 1767 Boys was mayor of Sandwich. In 1774 his father died at Greenwich (, Lit. Anecd. ix. 24 n.) In 1775 appeared his first publication—a memorial to resist a scheme for draining a large tract of the neighbouring land, which it was thought would destroy Sandwich harbour. Boys drew it up as one of the commissioners of sewers, on behalf of the corporation, and it was published at Canterbury in 1775 anonymously (Gent. Mag. lxxiii. pt. i. 421-3). In 1776 Boys was elected F.S.A. In 1782 he again served as mayor. In 1783 his second wife died, having borne him eight or nine children (ib., and, Hist. of Kent, iv. 222 n.} In the same year Boys furnished the Rev. John Duncombe with much matter relating to the Reculvers, printed in Duncombe's 'Antiquities of Reculver.' In 1784 was published 'Testacea Minuta Rariora,' 4to, being plates and description of the tiny shells found on the seashore near Sandwich, by Boys, 'that inquisitive naturalist' (Introd. p. i). The book was put together by George Walker, Boys himself being too much occupied by his profession. In 1786 Boys issued proposals for publishing his 'Collections for a History of Sandwich' at a price which should only cover its expenses, and placed his materials in the hands of the printers (, Lit. Ill. vi. 613). In 1787 Boys published an 'Account of the Loss of the Luxborough,' 4to (, Lit. Anecd. ix. 24), a case of cannibalism, in which his father (Commodore Boys) had been one of the men compelled to resort to this horrible means of preserving life. Boys had a series of pictures hung up in his parlour portraying the whole of the terrible circumstances (Pennant, in his Journey from London to the Isle of Wight, quoted in 's Lit. Anecd. ix. 24 n.) Of this 'Account,' as a separate publication, there is now no trace; but it appears in full in the 'History of Greenwich Hospital,' by John Cooke and John Maule, 1789, pp. 110 et seq.; it is also stated there that six small paintings in the council room of the hospital (presumably replicas of those seen by Pennant in the possession of William Boys) represent this passage in the history of the late gallant