James Boswell was born on October 29, 1740, probably in a house in Blair's Land, Parliament Close, the Edinburgh home of his parents Alexander and Euphemia Boswell.

At age 5 he began attending the private school of James Mundell (d. 1762) in the West Bow, Edinburgh. From 1749 until the late 1750s the family also had private tutors in their home, including Rev. John Dun (From 1749 until 1752, when he was appointed minister of Auchinleck), Joseph Fergusson and William McQuhae. At the age of 13 Boswell entered the University of Edinburgh, that being the normal age for matriculation at the time. In 1755, in Robert Hunter's Greek class, he met two of the people who would be his closest friends for the years to come, John Johnston of Grange and William Johnson Temple.

[1757-1762]

In 1762 Boswell obtained his father's (reluctant) permission to go to London to try if he could get a free commission in the guards. He set up on November 15th, 1762, but did not succeed in securing a commission. On May 16th, 1763, however, he met Samuel Johnson for the first time, in Thomas Davies' bookshop. The two of them quickly formed a friendship, and when Boswell set out for Holland in early August of that same year, to study law at the Utrecht, Johnson kept him company all the way to Harwich, where he saw him off. Boswell often frequented the playhouses in this period, and he mingled with high society (at Lord Eglinton's and Lady Northumberland's) and the litterati (at Sheridan's, Garrick's and Davies'). He also published his correspondence with Andrew Erskine, and Critical Strictures on Elvira (with Erskine and George Dempster).

[1763-1766]

From early August, 1763 until February, 1766, Boswell didn't set foot on the British Isles. He first went to Utrecht to study law for a year. The first few months of his stay were fairly uneventful and for the first few weeks he was seriously depressed. Encouraging letters from home, as well as the company of Archibald Stewart and the Rev. Robert Brown, improved his mental state, and by October he was ready to take serious part in the social life of Utrecht. He was introduced to some of the best families and through the Countess of Nassau Beverweerd he became friendly with the impressive - and large - family of the Counts of Nassau. On October 31, 1763, we first hear of Belle de Zuylen, one of his most interesting and ambivalent female acquaintances. As his stay in the city drew to a close - in June, 1764 - he seriously considered marrying her, but nothing came of it. They continued corresponding until 1768 - most of their correspondence is printed in Boswell in Holland. In the spring of 1764, Boswell considered translating Erskine's influential Institutes of the Law of Scotland into Latin, with the help of Professor Trotz. He did begin the work, but it was never published, and most likely only a small part of it was actually translated.

On June 18, 1764, a few days after having served as godfather to the son of Rev. Brown, Boswell left Holland for a tour of the German courts, in the company of George Keith, the Earl Marischal, and the earl's adopted daughter Emet-Ulla.

Until I get around to writing more of the biography of Boswell myself, this preliminary bio from the open source encyclopedia Wikipedia will have to do. I am focusing more on expanding the other parts of this website, than on writing a biography, as there are all ready several Boswell biographies on the net, while a lot of the other information I am publishing is not available anywhere else:

Early Life

Boswell was born near St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, and at the age of thirteen was sent to the city's University by his father to study law. Upon turning nineteen he was sent to continue his studies at the University of Glasgow, where he was taught by Adam Smith. Whilst at Glasgow Boswell decided to convert to Catholicism and become a monk. Upon learning of this Boswell's father ordered him home, instead of obeying Boswell ran away to London.

Boswell spent three months in London, where he lived the life of a libertine, before he was taken back to Scotland by his father. Upon returning Boswell was re-enrolled at Edinburgh University and was forced by his father to sign away most of his inheritance in return for £100 a year allowance. On July 30, 1762 took his oral law exam, which he passed with some skill. Upon this succes Lord Auchinleck decided to raise his son's allowance to £200 a year and allowed him to return to London. It was during this spell in London that Boswell met Johnson for the first time, on May 16, 1763, the pair became friend almost immediately.

European Travels

It was around three months after this first encounter with Johnson that Boswell departed for Europe, with the initial goal of continuing his law studies at Utrecht University. However, Boswell spent most of the next two and a half years travelling around the continent. During this time he met such people as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an made a pilgrimage to Rome. Boswell also travelled to Corsica to meet one of his heroes, the independence leader Pasquale Paoli.

Mature Life

Boswell returned to London in February 1766, accompanied by Rousseau's mistress. After spending a few weeks in the capital he returned to Scotland to take his final law exam. He passed the exam and became an advocate, he practiced for over a decade (during which time he spent no more than a month every year with Johnson).

Boswell married his cousin, Margaret Montgomerie, in November 1769. She remained faithful to Boswell, depite his infidelities, untill her death of tuberculosis in 1789. Despite his relative literary success, with his accounts of his European travels, Boswell was an unsuccessful advocate and by the late 1770s he descended further and further into alcoholism and gambling addiction. James and Margaret had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Two sons died in infancy; the other two were Alexander (1775-1822) and James (1778-1822). Their daughters were Veronica (1773-1795), Euphemia (1774-ca. 1834) and Elizabeth (1780-1814). James also had at least two illegitimate children, Charles (1762-1764) and Sally (1767-1768?).

After Johnson's death in 1784, Boswell moved to London to try his luck at the English bar, which proved even more unsuccessful than his career in Scotland. He also offered to stand for Parliament, but failed to get the neccessary support. He spent the final years of his life writing his Life of Johnson, whilst his health began to fail due to his years of drinking and venereal disease.