Men of Kent and Kentishmen/William Boys
William Boys,
HISTORIAN.
Another member of the same distinguished family, was the son of William Boys, Commodore in the Royal Navy, and Governor of Greenwich Hospital. He was born at Deal Sept. 7, 1735, his mother being Elizabeth Pearson, of that place. He practised as a surgeon in the town of Sandwich and devoted every interval from his professional duties to literature and scientific research. Residing within a mile of Richborough, the Roman Rhutupium, he was led to investigate the history of that place. He likewise applied himself with great zeal and success to the study of natural history, mathematics and astronomy. On all these subjects he wrote various papers, but the work for which he is best known, and which occupied him the best years of his life, was his "Collections for the History of Sandwich, with Notices of the other Cinque Ports, and of Richborough." A part of the volume appeared in 1788, printed at Canterbury, and a second part, completing the work, in 1792, making together a quarto volume of 877 pages. Mr. Boys was a magistrate, and took an active part in all public business of his town and neighbourhood. He died 15th March, 1803, and a tablet to his memory is erected in the Town Hall at Sandwich.
[See "Gentleman's Magazine," 1803. Also "Hasted's Kent" "Nichols's Literary Illustrations and Anecdotes."]