1906 Born 9th June at Westport, New Zealand.

1917 Family moved to Auckland where he attended Grammar School

1924 Studying at the Elam School of Art, Auckland.

1925 Studied at the Royal College of Art 1925-1929

1926 Met the New Zealand-born artist, Fred J. Porter (1883-1944)

1927 First exhibited at The London Group. Continued to exhibit paintings (mostly landscapes) in mixed exhibitions in London for the next five years. Also showed lithographs at the Senefelder Club.

1928 Met Montagu Slater, left-wing journalist, poet, novelist, editor; and a little later, Edgell Rickword, Marxist poet, critic and editor.

1929 - 32 Worked as a landscape painter, painting and drawing in London. Works on show at mixed exhibitions and at Leferevere, Zwemmer and Wertheim Galleries. Showed lithographs with Senefelder Club 1929-1931.

1932 Gave up painting, joined the Communist Party and took to illustration and graphic design.

1933 Founder-member of the Artists International Association (AIA); other artists included Clifford Rowe, Misha Black, Pearl Binder, James Fitton and James Holland.

1934 Exhibited with the AIA. In October, Left Review was launched. For the next four years Boswell was to be one of its major illustrators. Also contributed anti-fascist drawings to the Daily Worker under the pseudonym of Buchan.

1936 August: Became Art Editor of the Publicity Department of the Asiatic (now Shell) Petroleum Company.

1936-39 Took part in AIA. anti-war and anti-Fascist exhibitions, showing reportage and satirical drawings.

1939 Visit to Paris, where he produced series of drawings of the brother, Le Sphinx.

1940 Still working for Shell. Undertook ARP duties. Did many drawings of the Blitz. Contributed illustrations to Poetry and the People.

1941 January. Called up in early part of the year as a private in RAMC. Went to Crookham, near Fleet, Hampshire. Sent to Millbank barracks during the first half of the year and started his radiography training. In the autumn went to Peebles, Scotland.

1942 Spring: Left Peebles for Iraq.

1943 Most of year in Iraq Travelled back to Britain via Malta and Sicily, arriving in London on 16th December. Left the Communist Party.

1944 Joined OCTU. at Wrotham; moved to Lincolnshire, then in summer to Perth By the winter joined Richard Bennett as writer and illustrator, under pen name of Buchan, on Current Affairs. Exhibition of drawings On Duty in the Desert at Charlotte Street Centre Elected Chairman of AIA.

1945 Demobilised and returned to Shell.

1947 Resigned from Shell. Joined Richard Bennett on Lilliput as Art Editor. Illustrators included Ronald Searle, Gerald Hoffnung, James Fitton, James Holland and Paul Hogarth. 1948 Exhibited small drawings and paintings at Wolf Mankowitzs gallery, Piccadilly Arcade. Visited Australia. Wrote for Jack Lindsey's series of books New Developments, The Artist's Dilemma. He also served on the Editorial Board.

1950 December. Left Lilliput.

1951 Commissioned by Basil Spence to paint large Mural (20ft x 50ft) for the Sea and Ships Pavilion in the Festival of Britain. Became Editor of the house journal of J. Sainsbury Ltd. In 1969 he wrote and edited the centenary history of the firm.

1952-59 Exhibited at many mixed exhibitions Royal Academy, London group, Paris Salon and John Moores, Liverpool.

1954 Visited Paris; spent many hours looking at Monet's Nympheas in the Orangerie. Also studied the stained glass at Chartres.

1957 Deeply impressed by exhibition of American Abstract Expressionism at the Tate Gallery especially by Jackson Pollock. Exhibited his first abstract works at the AIA Abstract Exhibition

1958 The New Left Review organized exhibition of Left Review drawings at the Partisan Coffee House, Soho.

1962 One man shows at Drian Gallery, London and County Town Gallery, Eastbourne.

1964 Designed the poster Lets Go With Labour and the entire publicity campaign for the Labour Party for the General Election which swept Harold Wilson to victory.

1965 One-man show at New Vision Centre.

1967 One-man show at Commonwealth Institute, London.

1968 Commissioned to paint a large mural The Golden Day; for the new BP House, Wellington, New Zealand.

1970 Publication of Social Realism and The Arts by Donald Drew Egbert with extensive material on Boswell and reproduction of drawings.

1971 Death in London, 15th April.

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