Frederick Samuel Boas, OBE FRSL[1] (24 July 1862 – 1 September 1957) was an English scholar of early modern drama.[2]
He was born on 24 July 1862, the eldest son of Hermann Boas of Belfast. His family was Jewish.[3] He attended Clifton College as a scholar[4] and went up to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1881. During his time at Balliol his tutor was (later Professor) David George Ritchie. He held college Open and Jenkyns Scholarships and took a First in Classical Moderations in 1882, followed by a 1st in Literae Humaniores in 1885 and a 1st in Modern History and BA in 1886, which last he converted to MA in 1888.
His subsequent career was: Oxford University Extension Lecturer 1887–1901; Professor of English Literature, Queen's College, Belfast, and Fellow of the Royal University of Ireland 1901–1905, Librarian 1903–1905; Clark Lecturer, Trinity College, Cambridge, 1904; Inspector of English, London County Council Education Department 1905–1927; First Honorary General Secretary of the English Association 1906–1909 and later President; Honorary LLD, University of St Andrews, 1909; President, Elizabethan Literature Society; Fellow and Professor of the Royal Society of Literature; Visiting Professor of English, Columbia University, 1934; Hon D. Litt., Belfast, 1935; broadcast talk 13 July 1939, on Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol; Shakespeare Lecture, British Academy, 1943; President, English Association, 1944; Vice-President, Royal Society of Literature, 1945. He was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Benson Medal in 1952 and an OBE in 1953.[5] In 1952 he began an association with Beatrice White who joined him in creating the annual edition of "The Year's Work in English Studies" which is a bibliography published by the English Association. For four years she co-edited the annual work with him and for the next ten years she continued his project.[6]
In 1892 he married Henrietta O'Brien, daughter of S. J. Owen, Reader in Indian History at the University of Oxford; they had one son. Frederick Boas died on 1 September 1957.[7]
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