He left for Trinity College, Dublin in 1866 after gaining first place in the university's entrance examination, and had a stellar academic career in the next three years, graduating in 1869 as First Senior Moderator in Classics, History, English Literature and Law, with a gold medal.
[2] Despite student numbers being very small, Boulger felt the need for an assistant to take Mathematics, and appointed Thomas E. Clouston, later a Presbyterian minister in Australia.
[2] When he resigned to take the Hughes Professorship of English Language and Literature and Mental and Moral Philosophy at the University of Adelaide,[4] to which he was appointed on 1 July 1883, he was farewelled with "glowing testimonials".
[6] Mr and Mrs. Boulger, their two children and governess arrived in Adelaide per SS Melbourne on 16 July 1883,[7] but was in August reported seriously ill with pneumonitis, and unable to meet his lecturing commitments until October, when he made an impression with his eloquence, profound scholarship and his literary and linguistic knowledge.
His own health began to suffer, perhaps as a result of taking stimulants,[5] and in December 1894 Boulger resigned his position as Professor of Classics and Comparative Philology and Literature at the University of Adelaide.
One reference asserts he was made Professor of Classics and English literature at the Loreto Training College at Albert Park, Victoria, which position he held till his death.
The lovable, energetic, outgoing polymath had become quiet, reserved and reclusive: he publicly accepted the Catholic teachings and attended mass whenever he could, and Holy Communion on occasion.