P_10432_0261 – John Bolton
Born: 1756
Died: 24/02/1837
Title: /
First name: John
Middle name: /
Last name: Bolton
Aliases: /
Primary cohort: Liverpool
Sex: Male
Religion: /
Social background: Craft
Primary outcome: Trade
Political Affiliation: Tory
Relations
Abraham Bolton
Father
Job: Apothecary
Ann Bolton
Mother
Nee Philipson
Miles Drinkall
Business Partner
Employed in Drinkall's store on St Vincent
Anthony Littledale
Brother-in-law
Partner in Bolton and Littledale
Henry Littledale
Father-in-law
London Merchant
Elizabeth Bolton
Spouse (married 31/05/1797)
Nee Littledale
Thomas Staniforth
Nephew
Reverend. Inherited Storrs Hall from Bolton.
Political Offices Held
Local
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Liverpool Volunteers, a battalion that he raised himself at the cost of £10,000
Local
Elected to Liverpool borough council in October 1804, apparently without consultation, but neither attended a meeting nor performed any council duty, until in December 1807 his election was rescinded by mutual agreement.
Bankruptcies
No Information
Geographic experiences
Americas
Employed by Rawlinson and Chorley he was sent to St Vincent where he worked under Miles Drinkall, before becoming the firm's principle agent on the island in 1777. In 1781 he moved to St Lucia before returning to Britain in 1784.
Internal migrant: Yes
Sent from Ulverston to Liverpool for his apprenticeship, and where he remained for his career
Foreign born: Don't know
Supplier to slave trade voyages: Don't know
Creditor to slave trade voyages: Don't know
Philanthropy: Don't know
Plantation owner: Yes
Bolton also possessed property abroad, in Demerara and elsewhere in Guiana, St Vincent, and St Croix. In 1836 and 1837, after emancipation, he and his estate received compensation of £35,240 13s. 7d. for the freeing of 783 enslaved people on estates that he owned, partly owned, or of which he was mortgagee (Waterloo, Gravenhage, and other estates in British Guiana and Bostock Park estate in St Vincent).
Sources: Pope (2007) Liverpool Mail, 25 Feb 1837 ONDB https://www.storrshall.com/stay/about-storrs-hall/history-of-storrs-hall/
Other Individuals
No information
Organisations
No information
Crossings (69)
83926 - Vanguard (1804 - 1805)
Role: Owner
80968 - Dart (1801 - 1801)
Role: Owner
80967 - Dart (1800 - 1800)
Role: Owner
80966 - Dart (1798 - 1799)
Role: Owner
80965 - Dart (1797 - 1798)
Role: Owner
80874 - Comet (1787 - 1788)
Role: Owner
80838 - Christopher (1800 - 1800)
Role: Owner
80837 - Christopher (1798 - 1799)
Role: Owner
80608 - Bolton (1803 - 1803)
Role: Owner
80607 - Bolton (1802 - 1802)
Role: Owner
80606 - Bolton (1801 - 1801)
Role: Owner
80605 - Bolton (1800 - 1800)
Role: Owner
80604 - Bolton (1798 - 1799)
Role: Owner
80603 - Bolton (1797 - 1798)
Role: Owner
80602 - Bolton (1796 - 1797)
Role: Owner
80601 - Bolton (1794 - 1795)
Role: Owner
80600 - Bolton (1793 - 1794)
Role: Owner
80599 - Bolton (1792 - 1793)
Role: Owner
80522 - Betsey (1798 - 1798)
Role: Owner
80521 - Betsey (1797 - 1797)
Role: Owner
80520 - Betsey (1796 - 1796)
Role: Owner
80010 - Abigail (1792 - 1793)
Role: Owner
80009 - Abigail (1791 - 1792)
Role: Owner
83646 - Surprize (1794 - 1794)
Role: Owner
83259 - Queen (1804 - 1805)
Role: Owner
83258 - Queen (1802 - 1803)
Role: Owner
83211 - Prince William (1807 - 1807)
Role: Owner
83210 - Prince William (1805 - 1805)
Role: Owner
83209 - Prince William (1804 - 1804)
Role: Owner
83171 - President (1790 - 1791)
Role: Owner
83170 - President (1788 - 1789)
Role: Owner
83169 - President (1787 - 1788)
Role: Owner
82924 - Neptune (1803 - 1804)
Role: Owner
82923 - Neptune (1802 - 1802)
Role: Owner
82922 - Neptune (1801 - 1801)
Role: Owner
82569 - Mary (1807 - 1807)
Role: Owner
82568 - Mary (1805 - 1806)
Role: Owner
82567 - Mary (1804 - 1805)
Role: Owner
82459 - Maria (1795 - 1795)
Role: Owner
82144 - King George (1802 - 1802)
Role: Owner
82143 - King George (1800 - 1801)
Role: Owner
82142 - King George (1799 - 1800)
Role: Owner
82141 - King George (1798 - 1798)
Role: Owner
82042 - John (1805 - 1805)
Role: Owner
82041 - John (1803 - 1804)
Role: Owner
82040 - John (1802 - 1803)
Role: Owner
82039 - John (1801 - 1802)
Role: Owner
82038 - John (1800 - 1801)
Role: Owner
82037 - John (1799 - 1799)
Role: Owner
81881 - Horatio (1805 - 1806)
Role: Owner
81880 - Horatio (1804 - 1805)
Role: Owner
81879 - Horatio (1802 - 1803)
Role: Owner
81878 - Horatio (1801 - 1802)
Role: Owner
81684 - Gudgeon (1799 - 1799)
Role: Owner
81683 - Gudgeon (1797 - 1798)
Role: Owner
81682 - Gudgeon (1796 - 1796)
Role: Owner
81681 - Gudgeon (1794 - 1795)
Role: Owner
81680 - Gudgeon (1793 - 1794)
Role: Owner
81656 - Governor Wentworth (1805 - 1806)
Role: Owner
81655 - Governor Wentworth (1804 - 1805)
Role: Owner
81654 - Governor Wentworth (1803 - 1804)
Role: Owner
81653 - Governor Wentworth (1802 - 1803)
Role: Owner
81652 - Governor Wentworth (1801 - 1802)
Role: Owner
81218 - Elizabeth (1805 - 1805)
Role: Owner
81217 - Elizabeth (1804 - 1804)
Role: Owner
81216 - Elizabeth (1802 - 1803)
Role: Owner
81215 - Elizabeth (1801 - 1801)
Role: Owner
81214 - Elizabeth (1800 - 1800)
Role: Owner
81213 - Elizabeth (1798 - 1799)
Role: Owner
Birth
Date: 1756
Location: Ulverston (Lancashire)
Death
Date: 24/02/1837
Location: /
Burial
Date: 09/03/1837
Location: Bowness (Westmorland)
Memorial details: /
Christening: /
Knighthood: /
Baronetcy: /
Peerage: /
Residencies
Residential address at Storrs Hall in Westmorland after 1806
Occupation: Merchant - General Overseas (Merchant)
Heavily involved in the slave-trade, investing in seventy-three transatlantic slavery voyages in the period from 1787 to 1807, during the last decade of the British slave trade (1798–1807) financing more voyages than any other Liverpool investor. Trade with Demerara, especially in sugar, came to dominate Bolton's mercantile activity in the thirty years after 1807, some three-quarters of the cargoes imported at Liverpool by him in the 1820s and 1830s coming from there. Besides the twenty-one vessels employed in his slaving voyages, Bolton during his lifetime from 1781 onwards is known to have owned or partly owned twelve others that operated primarily as regular traders between Liverpool and the West Indies.
Schools
Town Bank Grammar School, Ulverston
Universities
No Information
Inns of Court
No Information
Military training
No Information
Imperial positions
No Information
Apprenticeships
Master: Rawlinson and Chorley
Livery: /
Start Date: 1773
Livery company affiliations
No Information
Other business activities
Region: England
Economic sector: Shipping
Part and sole owner of at least thirty-three vessels, twenty-one of which were involved in the slave-trade
Region: English Caribbean
Economic sector: Land
Owned plantations in Demerara, Guiana, St Vincent, and St Croix. In 1836 and 1837, after emancipation, he and his estate received compensation of £35,240 13s. 7d. for the freeing of 783 enslaved people on estates that he owned, partly owned, or of which he was mortgagee (Waterloo, Gravenhage, and other estates in British Guiana and Bostock Park estate in St Vincent).
Region: England
Economic sector: Land
Purchased large estates in Storrs Hall (on Lake Windermere) and Bolton Hall (in Yorkshire).
Was slave trading profitable: Yes
Will
Value of Total Personalty: £180,000
Value of Known Legacies (where material to total estate): /
Occupation: /
Town/City: Liverpool (Lancashire)
Courts: Prerogative Court Canterbury; Consistory Court Chester
Legacies
Physical Imprints
Building Category: Rural
Type: Modified
Town/City: /
Scale: /
Year: 1808
Value: /
Bolton purchased Storrs Hall in 1806 and employed Joseph Gandy in 1808-9, the architect of the Temple of Heroes, to extend the original building to either side, and more decorative elements were added. Cellars, built as service rooms for the original house, connected a brew house with the kitchens, and held 17 storage arches for the beers. https://www.storrshall.com/stay/about-storrs-hall/history-of-storrs-hall/
Physical Imprints
Building Category: Rural
Type: Modified
Town/City: /
Scale: /
Value: /
Bolton purchased Bolton Hall in Bolton-by-Bowland, Yorkshire, in 1804 from the Liverpool merchant Pudsey Dawson. In 1814 he added the Ellis estate of Richard Cust & Co for £24,200. He then sold the Bolton Hall estate to Mary Littledale, the daughter of Pudsey Dawson and widow of his business partner Anthony Littledale, in 1833.
No information