Born in Derbyshire in 1788, Bosworth was educated at Repton School as a 'Poor Scholar' but left in his early teens and did not go to university.
This suggests that his years between leaving Repton and becoming a priest were spent working for someone whose own interests lay in these directions and who greatly encouraged Bosworth's academic development.
In 1823, his Elements of Anglo-Saxon Grammar appeared, and he also matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge as a 'ten-year man' (mature student).
[4] Thomas Northcote Toller later compiled a new edition of the dictionary based on Bosworth's work, both printed and in manuscript,[5] and added a supplement (2 vols.
[5] He died on 27 May 1876 leaving behind him a mass of annotations on the Anglo-Saxon charters[6][4] and was buried on 2 June 1876 in Water Stratford churchyard.