Boscawen was the second son of Evelyn Hugh John Boscawen, 8th Viscount Falmouth, by his marriage to Mary Margaret Desiree, daughter of Hon. Frederick George Lindley Meynell (né Wood; in 1905 he assumed part of the married name of his sister, Emily Meynell Ingram, on inheriting estates from her),[1]High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1910, son of the politician Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax. Mary's mother, Lady Mary Susan Felice, was daughter of the art collector and historian Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford.[2]
Like his younger brother Robert, he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and from 1939 to 1946 served in the Coldstream Guards, rising to the rank of Captain. During the Second World War he saw active service in Italy.[3] On 21 May 1940 Boscawen's elder brother, Hon Evelyn Frederick Vere Boscawen, also a Coldstream Guards officer, was killed in action, leaving him as heir to the family titles and estates.[4]
In 1962, he succeeded as Viscount Falmouth on the death of his father. In 1968 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall, then in 1977 became the county's Lord Lieutenant, retiring only in 1994 on reaching the age of seventy-five.[3]
In 1982, as chairman of the governing body of Truro Cathedral School, Falmouth took the decision to close the school, because of "deteriorating finances". In a letter to parents he stated that this decision had been taken "with very great reluctance, after exploring all possible alternatives".[5]
Boscawen married Elizabeth Price Browne (1925 – 28 July 2007) who was a Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; on 9 May 1953. They have four sons:
Hon. Evelyn Arthur Hugh Boscawen (13 May 1955) he married Lucia Vivian-Neal on 23 July 1977 and they were divorced in 1995. They have two children and two grandsons. He remarried Katherine Helen Maley on 7 October 1995. They have three children.
Hon. Nicholas John Boscawen (14 January 1957) he married Virginia Mary Rose Beare, daughter of Robin Beare, in 1985. They have two daughters.
Hon. Charles Richard Boscawen (10 October 1958) he married Frances Diana Rous, daughter of Major Hon. George Nathaniel Rous, in 1985. They have three children.
Hon. Vere George Boscawen (18 September 1964) he married Catharine Halliday on 11 May 1991. They have three children.
His heir is his oldest son, the Hon Evelyn George Boscawen. All three generations, grandfather, father and son, are Etonians and live on and manage the Tregothnan estate.[6]