{{Short description|British geologist and author}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Use British English|date=January 2018}} '''Henry Samuel Boase''' FRS (2 September 1799 – 5 May 1883) was a 19th-century British geologist and author.
==Life and work== thumb|The grave of Henry Samuel Boase, Western Cemetery, Dundee Boase was born in Knightsbridge, London on 2 September 1799, the eldest son of Henry Boase (1763–1827), banker, of Madron, Cornwall. Henry Boase, the son, was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton and then in Dublin, where he studied chemistry. He later proceeded to Edinburgh University and took the degree of M.D. in 1821. He then worked for some years as a medical practitioner at Penzance; there geology engaged his particular attention, and he became secretary of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and a committee member of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=95}}{{sfn|Crook|2004}}
The results of Boase's geological observations were embodied in his ''Treatise on Primary Geology'' (1834), a work of considerable merit in regard to the older crystalline and igneous rocks and the subject of mineral veins.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=95–96}} In 1837 he moved to London, where he remained for about a year, being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1837. In 1838 he became a partner in a firm of bleachers at Dundee,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=95}} and managing director in 1846.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} He then lived at 5 Fleuchar Craig in Dundee.<ref>Dundee Post Office Directory 1846</ref>
Boase was a Christian creationist, he authored ''A Few Words on Evolution and Creation'', 1883. The book was negatively reviewed by George Romanes in the ''Nature'' journal.<ref>Romanes, George J. (1883). [https://archive.org/stream/nature281883lock#page/222/mode/2up ''A Few Words on Evolution and Creation'']. ''Nature'' 28: 222-224.</ref>
Until 1865 he worked for the Turnbull brothers at the Claverhouse Bleachfield.
He then went into partnership with George Ireland purchasing the Wellfield Works at Lilybank to create Ireland & Boase, flax and jute spinners. They made tarpaulins and sacks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/histories-of-scottish-families/archive/95442003?mode=transcription|title = (23) - Account of the families of Boase or Bowes - Histories of Scottish families - National Library of Scotland}}</ref> alt=Claverhouse Mansion front view|thumb|Claverhouse Mansion, photo taken Dec. 17, 2025 From 1851-1870 he lived with his family at Claverhouse Mansion<ref>{{Cite web |title=CLAVERHOUSE ROAD OR MANSION DRIVE, MANSION HOUSE (LB25116) |url=https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/apex/f?p=1505:300:::::VIEWTYPE,VIEWREF:designation,LB25116 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241211145036/https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/apex/f?p=1505:300:::::VIEWTYPE,VIEWREF:designation,LB25116 |archive-date=2024-12-11 |access-date=2026-01-03 |website=portal.historicenvironment.scot |language=en}}</ref> in Dundee.
By 1870 he was running three companies: Boase & Co, Ireland & Boase and Small & Boase.<ref>Dundee Post Office Directory 187o</ref> Boase retired in 1871 but stayed in Dundee. He died at Seafield House on Magdalen Place in Dundee, close to the River Tay,<ref>Dundee Post Office Directory 1883</ref> on 5 May 1883.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=96}} He is buried in the Western Cemetery, Dundee. The grave lies on the west wall just before the enclosed mausoleum on that side.
==Family== He married Elizabeth Valentina Stoddard (1799–1876) daughter of William Stoddard of Melcombe Regis in Dorsetshire.<ref>Boase grave, Western Cemetery, Dundee</ref> They had ten children including Mary Valentina Boase and Laura Bingham Boase. His son Alfred Boase (b.1829) married Ellen Bradley Boase, Henry's niece. Arthur Boase (1833–1852) was born in Dundee and educated at Glenalmond College.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/histories-of-scottish-families/archive/95442003?mode=transcription|title = (23) - Account of the families of Boase or Bowes - Histories of Scottish families - National Library of Scotland}}</ref>
His grandson Captain Edgar Leslie Boase was killed at High Wood in the First World War serving with the 4th battalion Black Watch. He stood as the Unionist candidate against Churchill in the 1915 election in Dundee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.greatwardundee.com/entry/boase-edgar-l/|title = Boase Edgar L :: Great War Dundee - This is Dundee's story of those that served in the First World War, and of the people left at home}}</ref>
==Selected publications== * [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonprimar00boas ''A Treatise on Primary Geology''] (1834) * [https://archive.org/details/philosophyofnatu00boasrich ''The Philosophy of Nature''] (1860) * ''The Second Adam, the Seed of the Woman'' (1876) * ''A Few Words on Evolution and Creation'' (1883)
==Notes== {{Reflist}} '''Attribution:''' *{{EB1911|wstitle=Boase, Henry Samuel|volume=4|pages=95–96}}
==References== {{Portal|Cornwall}} * {{cite encyclopedia |first=Denise |last=Crook |title=Boase, Henry Samuel (1799–1883) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2738}}{{subscription required}} * {{Cite DNB|first=Robert|last=Hunt|wstitle=Boase, Henry Samuel|volume=5|pages=282-283}}
==External links== * {{gutenberg author|51013}} * [https://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/image_folder/maps/claverhouse_map.png Map of Claverhouse Bleaching Fields, 1860] ([https://www.douglashistory.co.uk Douglas Archives])
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boase, Henry Samuel}} Category:1799 births Category:1883 deaths Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:British Christian creationists Category:19th-century British geologists Category:Fellows of the Geological Society of London Category:British fellows of the Royal Society Category:People educated at Blundell's School Category:People from Knightsbridge Category:People from Penzance