BOSWELL, JOHN

A Scottish Laird, of Auchinleck, and of the family of the biographer of Doctor Johnson. Laird means the proprietor of a landed estate; occasionally, merely a landlord. His appearance in the Lodge of Edinburgh at a meeting held at Holyrood in June, 1600, affords a very early authentic instance of a person being a member of the Masonic Fraternity who was not an architect or builder by profession. Brother Boswell signed his name and made his mark-as did the Operatives.