BORLASE, WILLIAM (1695-1772), English antiquary and naturalist, was born at Pendeen, Cornwall. As rector of Ludgvan, he made in his parish a collection of mineral and metallic fossils, and thus was led to study somewhat minutely the natural history of the county. In 175o he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society. His published works are : Antiquities of Cornwall (Ox ford, 17J4; 2nd ed., London, 1769) ; Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly, and their Importance to the Trade of Great Britain (Oxford, 176) ; Natural History of Cornwall (1758). He presented a variety of fossils and antiq uities to the Ashmolean museum, Oxford.
Borlase's letters to Pope, St. Aubyn and others, with answers, fill several volumes of manuscript. There are also ms. notes on Cornwall, and a ms. treatise Concerning the Creation and Deluge. Borlase's memoirs appeared in Nichol's Literary Anecdotes, vol. v.