James Boswell (1740-1795) sprang from an ancient Ayrshire family, which had been settled at Auchinleck since the sixteenth century. He was born in Edinburgh in 1740 where his father, who became Lord Auchinleck, was a Judge in the Supreme Court of Scotland. His mother was descended from a minor branch of Scottish royalty. He was educated at Edinburgh University followed by Glasgow University, wher
e he attended the lectures of the great Enlightenment philosopher, Adam Smith. From the start, Bozzy as he was affectionately known, was drawn to the pleasure-loving side of life. His first visit to London at the age of 19 began a love affair with the city which never wavered. His charm, sensitivity and intelligence opened doors to the most brilliant men of the day, but the ultimate prize for Boswell was his friendship with the towering figure of Dr Samuel Johnson – compiler of the definitive dictionary of the English language and celebrated man of letters. Boswell’s friendship led him to become Johnson’s biographer and the account of his life, published 220 years ago this May, has never been out of print. His Life of Johnson established him as the inventor of modern biography and has upheld his reputation as one of the most innovative writers of the Enlightenment. Boswell was also author of a pioneering travel book An Account of Corsica and his famous Journal of a tour to the Hebrides, which described an expedition made to the Western Isles with Dr Johnson. At the end of their journey, they stayed at Auchinleck where Johnson famously crossed swords with Boswell’s father. Boswell’s fame redoubled in the twentieth century with the discovery and publication of his diaries, some of the most frank and vivid [observations of life in the 18th c?] ever recorded, setting him alongside Pepys as one of the greatest diarists in the English language. Boswell ushered in the confessional memoir, which is so popular today. Nothing was omitted—including his innumerable sexual encounters, his battle with depression, his difficult relationship with his father, his frustrated political ambition and his life as a lawyer in the Scottish courts. He married his cousin, Elizabeth Montgomerie, with whom he had five children and became Laird of Auchinleck on the death of his father in 1782 and devoted much time and money to the care of the Estate. He died in 1795 and was interred in the Boswell Mausoleum in Auchinleck churchyard. Ayrshire’s other great writer of genius, Robert Burns, who was a great admirer of Boswell, should have the last word. “I had the honor of drawing my first breath almost in the same Parish with Mr Boswell, my Pride plumes itself on the connection,” he wrote, “to have been acquainted with such a man as Mr Boswell, I would hand down to my Posterity as one of the honors of their Ancestor.”
