Biography of Alan Boase

Alan Martin Boase (1902-1982) was Marshall Professor of French Language and Literature from 1937 until 1966.

Born in St Andrews, Boase graduated from New College, Oxford and undertook post-doctoral research at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Sorbonne. He was a lecturer in French at the University of Sheffield from 1929 until his appointment to the Chair of French at the University College of Southampton in 1936. He came to Glasgow the following year and, under his leadership, the Department of French Language and Literature became one of Britain's largest and most dynamic.

Boase was a founder-member and president of the Association of University Professors of French and was an active member of the editorial board of French Studies. He was also a committee chairman of the French Institute in Scotland and became an honorary Fellow of the Collège de France in 1974.

Boase was an authority on Renaissance French literature and on the life and works of Montaigne. He was an Officier de la Legion d'Honneur and in 1979 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Rayonnement francais.

Professor Boase died in 1982 aged 80 and his family sponsored a memorial concert at Queens Hall, Edinburgh, in his memory.

Summary

Alan Boase
Language Scholar
Born 23 June 1902, St Andrews, Scotland.
Died 7 November 1982.
University Link: Professor
GU Degree:
Occupation categories: language scholars
Search for this person in the DNB
Record last updated: 13th Dec 2013

University Connections

University Roles

• Professor

Academic Posts

Professorships:

• French Language and Literature (Marshall Chair)

Images

Alan Boase