[1] He was a member of the Family Compact, an oligarchic political and social group which dominated the government of the province.
The second son of Henry Boulton (1732–1788) J.P., of Moulton, Lincolnshire, by his third wife, Mary (1734–1779), the daughter of D'Arcy Preston of Askham Bryan Hall, Yorkshire.
Boulton fought vigorously in the short-lived attempt to defend the ship and for his troubles he received a sabre slash across his forehead; he was kept at Verdun and released in 1813.
At London in 1782, he married Elizabeth Forster (whose elder sister married D'Arcy's elder brother), daughter and co-heiress of Chief Justice James Forster of the Isle of Ely, Serjeant-at-law, by Susannah, daughter of Sir John Strange.
Boulton's sold the north half of his Park Lot 13 to provide land for King's College (now the University of Toronto).