Frederick Samuel Boas, OBE FRSL[1] (24 July 1862 – 1 September 1957) was an English scholar of early modern drama.
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.
[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.