He was born at Madron on 3 June 1763, and in 1785 went from Penzance to Roscoff, in Brittany, in a fishing-boat, to proceed to Morlaix, where he stayed for some time, and acquired a knowledge of French.
[2] Not finding any business opening in Cornwall, Boase went to London, where he obtained a situation as corresponding clerk in the banking house of Messrs.
This house had an extensive continental connection, and after the flight of Louis XVI in 1791 a large part of the funds for the support of the emigrant clergy and nobility passed through their hands.
There he became a partner in the Penzance Union Bank; served the office of mayor in 1816; aided John Ayrton Paris and Ashhurst Majendie to found the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall; took an active share in promoting the Penzance Public Library, and furnished to Sir Thomas Bernard valuable evidence as to the pernicious effects of the duties on salt.
[1] He married, 26 October 1794, Anne, the only child of Matthew Craige of Walsall, by whom he left a large family, including the geologist Henry Samuel Boase.