William Boys (surgeon)

William Boys (1735 to 1803) was an English surgeon and topographer who practised for most of his working life at Sandwich in Kent. He was born at Deal on 7 September 1735, the eldest son of a naval officer who became lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital, and by about 1755 he was working as a surgeon in Sandwich. Alongside his medical practice he became known as an antiquary and naturalist: he explored Richborough Castle, collected antiquities, read old manuscripts and inscriptions, and studied astronomy, mathematics and natural history. He served the town as a jurat and twice as mayor, was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1776, and in 1789 was appointed surgeon to the sick and wounded seamen at Deal. His published work includes a history of Sandwich issued in two parts, and a book of plates of tiny shells found on the Kent shore, and a species of tern was named Sterna boysii after him. He died of apoplexy on 15 March 1803 at the age of 68 and was buried in St. Clement's Church, Sandwich.