Charles Watson Boise (November 9, 1884 – November 15, 1964) was an American-born naturalised British mining engineer.

Early life

Born in

Lakota, North Dakota Lakota is a city in Nelson County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Nelson County Lakota is located 63 miles west of Grand Forks and 27 miles east of Devils Lake. The population was 683 at the 2020 census, making Lakota t ...

on November 9, 1884, his family soon moved to

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

where he spent his formative years. Boise attended the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

where he developed an interest in literature, publishing ''Varsity verse: A selection of undergraduate poetry written at the University of North Dakota'' with P.B. Griffith in 1908. After graduation Boise found work with the Santa Rita Mining Company in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

Mining career

He gained employment with

Forminière The ''Société internationale forestière et minière du Congo'' (French language, French; literally the "International Forestry and Mining Company of the Congo"), known as Forminière, was a lumber and mining company in the Belgian Congo (modern- ...

in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

in 1911, directing the exploration, mining and research operations at the company's Kasai diamond fields. He received promotion to Chief Engineer of the company and remained in the region throughout the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Boise led prospecting expeditions in Southern Africa in 1914 and published ''Diamond fields of

German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

'' in the South African Mining Journal in July 1915 and ''The Vaal River diggings in

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

'' in the '' Mining Magazine'' in 1916. After the war Boise established himself in London as a diamond mining consultant. In 1920 he made the first investigation of the diamond fields of the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

which led to the founding of the Consolidated African Selection Trust. He was also involved with opening the diamond fields in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

and the exploration of

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

for copper, which resulted in the creation of the

Rhodesian Selection Trust The Rhodesian Selection Trust (RST) was a mining corporation which produced copper from the Copperbelt region of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. History The RST was formed in 1928 by Alfred Chester Beatty, an Irish-American mining magnate, as a hol ...

. In 1926 he applied for a British patent (with W. R. Degenhardt) for a machine that could disintegrate clay and mix sand, cement and other materials. He received a patent in the US for the machine in 1929. Boise retired in 1959.

Emmetts Garden

Boise purchased

Emmetts Garden Emmetts Garden is an Edwardian estate located at Ide Hill, near Sevenoaks in Kent, UK. It is now owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty (National Trust). History Emmetts Garden was open farmland until 18 ...

, an Edwardian estate in Kent, in 1927. He was particularly fond of the gardens and built a new rock garden, camelia garden and bluebell dell. His experience with

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

-carrying

mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

s, which thrive in standing water, may have been behind his decision to fill in many of the ponds at Emmetts in the 1930s. He left the gardens to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

after his death.

Leakey expedition and death

Boise financed an anthropological expedition led by

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropology, paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human ev ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

in 1959. Leakey's wife,

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A pro ...

, discovered a fossil

cranium The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

of an unknown species on July 17, 1959. It turned out to be the first known specimen of an early hominin species which she named ''

Zinjanthropus boisei ''Paranthropus boisei'' is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959, and species descrip ...

'' after the expedition's sponsor. The species was later placed in the genus ''

Paranthropus ''Paranthropus'' is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: ''Paranthropus robustus, P. robustus'' and ''P. boisei''. However, the validity of ''Paranthropus'' is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be sy ...

''. Boise died in Kent on November 15, 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boise, Charles Watson 1884 births 1964 deaths People from Nelson County, North Dakota American mining engineers University of North Dakota alumni