From Whence We Came ... with great enthusiasm
The Bolton & District Family History Society (now called Bolton Family History Society) came about as a result of a Workers' Educational Association course in the late 1970s. At the end of the course, the class did not want to lose touch and decided to hold an exploratory meeting at the Pack Horse Hotel, Bolton to gauge interest in forming a local family history group. On 24th November 1981, the Oak Room of the Pack Horse was full to bursting with lots of enthusiasm, so the first meeting was arranged.
The first meeting venue was the Friends' Meeting House, Silverwell Street, Bolton and the main aims laid down then (and still current now) were to do everything possible to ensure that sources remain accessible to members, and to assist new or inexperienced members with their research. The picture above is believed to be the first committee.
In early 1982, the Bolton group decided to apply for and was accepted as a branch of the well-established Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society. Their first pages in the Manchester Genealogist appeared in Issue 18-2 on pages 33 & 34. A transcription of these can be seen below, and the original pages, along with other archived issues, are available in the members area.
BOLTON & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY.
At long last the BOLTON FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY is well and truly off the ground.
We had our first meeting in February at the Friends' Meeting House, and I am pleased to report a capacity attendance of 100 people. We were so surprised we started fifteen minutes late, and it was 7.45 p.m. before our Secretary, John Heyes started the meeting and introduced Joan Bower, the speaker for the evening.
In her own inimitable and amusing way, Joan gave us a lively and informative talk that was entertaining in style and broad in scope. Many people took notes and I am sure everyone got something of value out of the talk. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we are insured if we trip over a headstone when we are transcribing memorial inscriptions.
Anyway, Joan was given a tremendous reception by all present, although I am sure that she would have liked more time (about three hours more). Members will be pleased that we are hoping to arrange another talk by Joan early next year.
With that meeting being our first, there was, and still is, much organising to do. Janice Frost, project secretary, called for assistance with the projects we wish to start.
Already we have photocopies of the Bolton Census returns for 1811, 1821 and 1831. All these need to be indexed and this will be the first and relatively simple task. I say relatively simple because we would like to help Kevin Campbell, the Borough Archivist. His long-term project is to transcribe all Bolton wills, a mammoth task bearing in mind the age and condition of many of them. However, paleography fascinates me personally, and I intend to devote as much time as I can to this particular task. Transcription is one job that everyone can do with a little training, so I hope that all our experts will lend a hand to those of us with small experience of the different types of handwriting.
Memorial Inscriptions are also high on our priority list. Every year we seem to lose another churchyard for one reason or another, so as soon as the weather improves sufficiently, we will all be out there with our plastic macs, our wellies and our sticks of chalk, scrabbling about in overgrown churchyards like demented spiders.
Janice is going to form groups to get these tasks underway, and no doubt she will be in touch with everyone in the near future. Please help as much as you can.
I stood up to say a few words next, but the least said about that, the better. I’ll stick to the written word in future ~ All I wanted to say - and I'm not sure that I did - was that I intended to call on Janice' s project groups for information for future editions of the Journal. So please give generously - it is difficult to write about nothing.
Unfortunately, there was very little time for informal chat after I eventually finished and this is something that we will put right in future. After all, we cannot really call ourselves a society if we don’t have the time to get to know each other.
The second meeting, early in March, was highlighted by a talk from Derek Billington on "Captain Dewhurst and his Diary". Derek has an elephantine memory on local history matters, and being a relative newcomer to the area, I was fascinated by the derivation of place-names around Bolton. Everyone enjoyed the talk immensely and it would be nice to have Derek back again at some time if this could be arranged (J .H. please note'.).
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At this meeting there was a little more time or talk afterwards, but the evening still passed far too quickly. I noticed that we already have some volunteers for the projects, and work has commenced on the wills.
Finally, to all those people who have given help already, many thanks, and to those who will come forward in the next few weeks, your assistance is sincerely appreciated.
By: J.HOULISTON, JOURNAL SECRETARY, BOLTON & DIST. F.H.S.
BOLTON & DISTRICT F.H.S. - PROGRAMME 1982.
| 3rd February | Joan Bower | What is Family History? |
| 3rd March | Derek Billington | Diaries of Capt. Roger Dewhurst. |
| 7th April | John Bulmer | Lancashire Parish Register Society. |
| 5th May | Phillip Carr | Heraldry and the Family Tree. |
| 2nd June | Pat Seddon | Old Photographs in Family History. |
| 7th July | Closed | NO MEETING - BOLTON HOLIDAYS. |
| 4th August | Raymond Hargreaves | The Anderton & Heaton Families of Bolton. |
| 1st September | Rhoda Clarke | I married a Clarke. |
| 6th October | W.H. Poland | Know your Manchester. |
| 3rd November | Audrey Linkman | Preserving the past. |
| 1st December | Jim Beckett | The Computer File Index, and how to use it. |
**********
We feel that we have a commitment to the complete beginners among our members, and to help them make a start, on what is likely to be unfamiliar ground, we will be holding a series of "Workshop Evenings" this year. Although they are primarily for the assistance of the complete beginners and intermediates, it is hoped that as many as possible will attend to make this worthwhile, and that the more experienced members will be there to give their unstinted help. On these evenings, all persons attending will be asked to make a small contribution towards the cost of the room.
| 17th March | Beginners Workshop | "Making a start - the facts you need". |
| 19th May | Beginners Workshop | "What do I do next - where do I look?". |
| 15th September | Beginners Workshop | "I am a beginner and my problem is ....... ". |
| 17th November | Intermediate Workshop | "Sources for further information". |
It is also very likely that the Bolton Group will be running a trip to London to visit St.Catherine's House, (Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths) and Somerset House, (Indexes of Probate - Wills and Letters of Administration), towards the autumn of this year and full details will be announced later.
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Projects
One way of achieving the above aims was to appoint a Projects Secretary, whose job it was to choose sources, perhaps those in a frail condition, for members to index. Willing groups braved the cold to visit graveyards to note and index monumental inscriptions which might be in danger of damage or disappearance through age. Several transcribers are still hard at work on various topics. A copy of every completed project has been given to the Local Studies & Archives Section of Bolton M.B.C., thus making the work available to all. Electronic copies are added to the MLFHS online website, again with the intention of assisting researchers around the world with sources in Bolton.
Archives and Internet
From its earliest beginnings, the group has seen many changes in the way family history is researched, not least the continually increasing importance of the internet. Many people believe they can achieve a full family history by use of the internet alone, but this is not the case, with much information still being in dusty repositories, just waiting to give up that elusive ancestor who has just not wanted to be found. Again, the very popular TV series "Who Do You Think You Are" may have fostered interest in so many people.
Four Bolton members have been delighted to be appointed Fellows of the Society — Mr. Ron Smith, Mrs. Rita Greenwood, Mrs. Barbara Owen and Mrs. Margaret Calderbank.
Bolton's Heritage
Nelson Square
Below are a couple of hand coloured postcards of Nelson Square, dated between 1900-1910.
The one on the left shows the statue of Samuel Crompton , and you can also see the old Lever Arms Hotel at the top right, on the corner of Bowker's Row, before it was demolished in 1949 for the extension of the Pack Horse Hotel.
The one on the right is looking down towards Bradshawgate. The photo would have been taken from in front of what was once Bolton Royal Infirmary.
