Scottish lawyer, traveller, diarist, journalist and author of that most amazing book, the Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language.
During the course of his life he met an amazing number of the great and powerful, of the literati, the philosophers, academics and advocates of his time.
Discovered by scholars in the 1920s, Boswell’s long-lost journals were one of the major literary discoveries of the 20th century. In his detailed and honest journal entries from the early 1760s until shortly before his death, we get his unique first-hand observations of life and personalities in the second half of the 18th century. Had he not written the Life of Samuel Johnson, his journals would still secure his fame for posterity.
Boswell married his cousin, Margaret ‘Peggie’ Montgomerie, on 26 November 1769. She remained faithful to Boswell, despite his frequent liaisons with prostitutes, until her death from tuberculosis in 1789. They had four sons and three daughters. Two sons died in infancy; the other two were Alexander (1775–1822) and James (1778–1822). Their daughters were Veronica (1773–1795), Euphemia (1774 – c. 1834) and Elizabeth, known as ‘Betsy’, (1780–1814). Boswell also had at least two extramarital children, Charles (1762–1764) and Sally (1767–c.1768).
James Boswell died in London at 2 AM on 19 May 1795, aged 54, ending five weeks of illness.

Link to Wikipedia biography