Author: Boswell, Alexander
Biography:
BOSWELL, Alexander (1775-1822: ODNB)
pseudonym Simon Grey
Editor, poet, politician. He was born on 9 Oct. 1775 at Edinburgh to James Boswell (the biographer) and Margaret (Montgomerie) Boswell. He was privately educated before attending Eton and the University of Edinburgh although he did not take a degree. The death of his father in 1795 left him well-off and he spent a year travelling in Europe. On 26 Nov. 1799 he married Grisel Cuming; the couple were to have a son and two daughters. He published editions of material from the archives of his Auchinleck estate and in 1815 he established a printing press at Auchinleck which issued his poetry. A member of the Roxburghe Club, Boswell was part of the literary circle that included Walter Scott. Politically he was a committed tory who first secured a parliamentary seat in 1816. On being discovered as author of squibs denouncing the whig James Stuart, he was challenged to a duel during which Stuart (who had not previously handled a gun) inadvertently shot Bowell in the collar bone; he died of the injury on 27 Mar. 1822 He was buried at Auchinleck cemetery and left behind an estate in considerable financial disarray. (ODNB 5 May 2018; ancestry.co.uk 5 May 2018) SR
Other Names:
- A. B.