According to his obituary, Edward Boswell was born on 5 April 1760, in Puddletown, Dorset, where his family had lived for "centuries past".
[1][3] His obituary spoke highly of the work, "whether as a book of reference, or as one of general information connected with the whole civil administration of the county, it is impossible to speak in too high terms of commendation; and the methodical and perfect arrangement of its details, and the quantity and variety of its contents, prove the persevering nature of his character, and the possession of no ordinary genius.
"[1] Two centuries later, in Boswell's biographical sketch for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, historian Jonathan Harris referred to the work as the "standard account of the civil administration of the county".
[1] His obituary speaks as highly of this work, describing it as the product of the author's "great antiquarian, as well as local, knowledge".
In anxiety about Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, Boswell also produced a map of his home county in 1804 later lithographed for private circulation.
[3] His obituary memorialised his character favourably, recalling him as "a man possessing strong powers of mind and body, and a very retentive memory; he was a cordial lover of books and literature, and he read and digested the best works he could obtain on many subjects...