By the 18th century, the middle class had become more concerned with cleanliness and fashion, and there was a demand for easily washable and colourful fabric.
18th century: The Wesleyan Methodist church was formed in the 18th century from religious societies founded by John Wesley and his preachers. (>19th century)
1703 Rivington Unitarian Chapel founded
1703 John Wesley born
1703 The population of Great and Little Bolton was about 4,000.
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1713 Walmsley Unitarian Chapel built in 1713.
1715 Roger Dewhurst purchased Halliwell Hall and its estate.
1715 Farnworth Grammar School was founded in 1715.
1716 Captain Roger Dewhurst born
Died 1806
1716 Mr. John Moss, a Manchester woollen merchant, bought the manor of Little Bolton
1720 (4 Mar) Samuel Bourn (1648-1721), Presbyterian minister, died at Bolton
By 1721 Imports of calicoes, cheap cotton fabrics from Kozhikode, then known as Calicut, in India, found a mass market among the poor. By 1721 these calicoes threatened British manufacturers, and Parliament passed the Calico Act that banned calicoes for clothing or domestic purposes.
1721 The Boar’s Head Inn was built
It was a Posting House and the meeting place of the licensing justices. Literary minded members of Bolton meet her regularly.
1721 Boar’s Head on Churchgate built (closed 1992, demolished 1998)
1721 Philip Holland (1721–1789), English nonconformist minister, born at Wem, Shropshire, the eldest son of Thomas Holland. His grandfather, Thomas Holland (died 1675, aged 57), had been a member of the first presbyterian classis of Lancashire, and was ejected from Blackley Chapel, Lancashire, by the Uniformity Act 1662. His father, Thomas Holland, a pupil of James Coningham, was ordained in August 1714 as presbyterian minister at Kingsley, Cheshire, and moved to Wem, Shropshire, in 1717. His mother was Mary Savage, granddaughter of Philip Henry.
1723 Smithills Hall was purchased by the Byrom family
1726 All Saints Church, All Saints Street, Little Bolton established
Closed 1966
1728 Roger Dewhurst died
1729 The Rev Thomas Dixon, M.D. died
1731 Matthew Fletcher (1731 or 1733 – 1808), a mine owner and mining engineer in Lancashire, England, born. Died 24 Aug 1808.
1732 (23 Dec) Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of cotton spinning machinery and cotton manufacturer, was born at Preston, Lancashire, the sixth of the seven children of Thomas Arkwright (1691–1753), a tailor, and his wife, Ellen Hodgkinson (1693–1778).
Died 1792
1734 (29 Jan) Mathieu Vallet, chemist, baptised
1739 (11 Nov) James Brandwood (1739-1826), Quaker minister, born at New House, Entwistle, near Rochdale, where his parents were yeoman farmers. In adulthood Brandwood practised as a land surveyor and conveyancer, and is also said to have acted as the steward of the Turton estate, near Bolton. Died 1826
1739 Peter Ainsworth leased the land –that is now Moss Bank Park- to use it for bleaching cloth
The process of bleaching the cloth was called “crofting”. The cloth was stamped with the manufacturers name, boiled and washed in the soft local water. It was then soured with a concoction of buttermilk and urine collected from the neighbourhood. After this the cloth was washed again and pegged out on “tenterhooks” for three weeks in the sun to whiten and complete the bleaching process. The area where the park now stands would have been used for this laying out of cloth.
1740 The name Halliwell was derived from 'holy well' of the Parish of Deane, but has been spelled many ways, HaliWalle in 1220, 1246 as Haliwell, and Halliwoe and Hollowell are also seen. The actual well was in Moss Bank Park and was filled in when Peter Ainsworths' daughter Mary fell into the well and drowned in 1740. The exact location is currently unclear, but thought to be at the edge of Moss Bank Park on the way to Barrow Bridge. (query - born 1740 and drowned 1743)
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1741 The Blundell Arms is situated in the rural village of Horwich on a hill. Built in 1741, it used to be a courthouse and the cellar was a mortuary!
1747 (1 Feb) Thomas Barnes, Presbyterian minister and reformer, born at Warrington, the son of William Barnes and Elizabeth, daughter of the Revd Thomas Blinston, Presbyterian minister at Wigan. His father died when he was only three.
He was educated at the grammar school in Warrington, before being sent in 1761 to the well-known dissenters' boarding-school conducted by the Revd Philip Holland of Bolton. He then studied at Warrington Academy (1764–8), and entered the ministry at Cockey Moor (Ainsworth, near Bolton) in 1768, serving for twelve years with considerable success, his congregation more than doubling in size.
Died 27 Jun 1810
1748 John Wesley preached at the cross while on his travels through England.
He did not have a good opinion of the people of Bolton describing “many of them being utterly wild”
1748 The Free Reading School, in Antelope Court founded 1748.
1750 Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) moved to Bolton-le-Moors
1750 Richard Arkwright carried on his trade in Churchgate as a wig and peruke maker. (There is a plaque above Booth’s Music Shop)
Arkwright later moved to Nottingham where he patented his invention the Water Frame and established his famous mill at Cromford
1750 Rev John Buck died
1753 (3 Dec) Samuel Crompton born at 10, Firwood Fold
1754 The first congregation of Independents in Bolton, settled in Duke’s Alley Chapel
1755 (31 Mar) Richard Arkwright, described as a peruke maker, married Patience (Patients) Hold, the daughter of Robert Holt, a property-owning schoolmaster and Presbyterian, at St Peters, Bolton.
They had one child
(peruke maker = a wig maker)
1755 (Autumn) In the autumn of 1755 Philip Holland (1721–1789) became minister of Bank Street Unitarian Chapel, Bolton, Lancashire, in succession to Thomas Dixon. On account of the popularity of his ministry, the chapel was enlarged in 1760. He kept a boarding-school also. From 1785 William Hawkes (1759–1820) was his colleague.
1755 (19 Dec) Richard Arkwright, cotton manufacturer and landowner, born in Bolton, Lancashire, the only child of Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), cotton manufacturer and his wife, Patience (died 1756), daughter of Robert Holt
He was baptized at Bank Street Presbyterian Chapel
1755 The Rev Thomas Holland came from Wem, Shropshire, and accepted the invitation of the congregation of Bank Street to become their pastor
1756 (5 Oct) Samuel Oldknow Jnr (1756–1828), English cotton manufacturer, born the eldest son of Samuel Oldknow Sr and Margery Foster, was born 5 October 1756 in Anderton, near Chorley, Lancashire. Died 18 September 1828 at Mellor Lodge, Derbyshire.
1756 (6 Oct) Patience Arkwright died
She was interred with her mother, and the gravestone omitted her matrimonial name.
1756 Thomas Bancroft, Church of England clergyman and schoolmaster, was born in Deansgate, Manchester, son of Thomas Bancroft, a thread maker.
He also served on the Bolton magistrate’s bench.
Died 1811.
1759 (7 Aug) Samuel Oldknow, “of Nottingham, late of Anderton, died
Gravestone at Rivington Unitarian Chapel.
His son, Samuel Oldknow, was an early textile factory owner and member of the chapel
1760 Grundy's Mill, a paper mill in Little Lever, founded by James Grundy in 1760
1761 (24 Mar) Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) married Margaret Biggins (1723–1811) of Pennington, near Leigh.
They had a daughter Susanna, born 20 Dec 1761, and two other daughters who died young
1761 (20 Dec) Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) and Margaret Biggins (1723-1811), had a daughter, Susanna
She was baptized at Bank Street Chapel.
1761 David Wood (1761–1820) born
1765 Matthew Murray (1765 – 1826), English steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, born. He designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder Salamanca in 1812. He was an innovative designer in many fields, including steam engines, machine tools and machinery for the textile industry. Died 20 Feb 1826.
1765 Joseph Nadin (1765-1848) born.
1766 Samuel Horrocks (1766-1842), cotton manufacturer, born in Edgworth, near Bolton
Died 1842
1767 (29 Mar) Thomas Hardcastle, born in Bingley, Yorkshire
co-founder of Hardcastle, Cross & Co – Bolton’s first commercial bank
Died 15 Aug 1839 Bolton, Lancashire
1767 Isaac Dobson(1767-1833) born
He founded Dobson & Barlow Ltd, one of the oldest engineering companies in the world, for the production of textile machinery
Died 1833
1768 (27 Mar) John Horrocks (1768-1804), British cotton manufacturer and Member of Parliament, born in Edgworth, near Bolton, Lancashire
Died 1 Mar 1804
1769 (4 Jul) John Kennedy (1769 – 1855), Scottish textile industrialist in Manchester, born in Knocknalling, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. Died 30 Oct 1855.
Abt 1769 James Ormrod born in Bolton
Sons Peter (1795-1875) and James (1809-1889)
Died 1 Nov 1825 Chamber Hall, Bolton
1770 Thomas Ridgway Snr. owned a bleachworks in Bolton until 1770 when a fire destroyed most of the stock and equipment.
1770s Brothers, John and Joseph Ridgway, land agents to the Blundells moved their bleaching works from Bolton to Wallsuches.
Wallsuches: it is thought that the name is derived from 'wella', the Old English for water, and 'soc', Old English for soak.
1773 William “Billy” Lonsdale, the famous blind fiddler, composer born
He was sometime organist at Bolton Parish Church, until fired for being drunk on duty by Rev Canon Slade.
Died 1833.
1774 John Albinson of Bolton (1774-1854), surveyor, antiquarian and book collector, born.
1774 James Kay, British inventor, born at Edge Fold Farm, near Entwistle, Lancashire
Developed a successful wet spinning process for flax in 1824, helping industrialise linen spinning in the British Isles.
Died 1857
1774 Chlorine discovered by Scheele
1774 In 1774 the Calico Act was repealed with the invention of machines that allowed for British manufacturers to compete with Eastern fabrics.
1776 The Ridgway Gates Chapel was opened in 1776
1777 (16 Apr) The Ridgway Gates Chapel was visited by John Wesley on 16 April 1777 when he gave it his official blessing. At the time it was considered to be the second largest Methodist Chapel in England.
1777 (16 Apr) John Wesley opens Ridgway Chapel, predecessor of Victoria Hall
Abt 1777 Robert Dalglish, English steam engineer, born in Northumberland
Surveyed and engineered the Bolton and Leigh railway
Died 26 Dec 1865
1777 St Helena Mill built
1777 The new bleach works at Wallsuches were opened as “Thomas Ridgway and Sons”. Wallsuches was first built on substantially by the Ridgway family. It was selected due to the availability of land and streams to provide water power to run the bleach works and cotton mill. The main road through Horwich to Bolton had been improved, which was good for business access and employees. At the time Horwich was a hamlet of 320 residents, mostly self-employed farmers and cotton weavers. "Wallsuches Bleach Works" brought employment to Horwich and workers came from Horwich, Blackrod, Adlington and Rivington. (>1780)
1779 (11 Nov) John Moore, surgeon, born
Died 6 Sep 1860
In Bolton Parish Churchyard
1779 In 1779 Samuel Oldknow (1756-1828) purchased a number of spinning mules (also known as Hall i' th' Wood wheels, invented by Samuel Crompton of Bolton) suitable for use in the manufacture of muslin.
1779 Samuel Crompton, aged 26, designed and built his first spinning mule.
The last surviving Spinning Mule built by Samuel Crompton is at Bolton Museum.
While headmaster of King Henry VIII School, Thomas Bancroft (1756-1811) married Elizabeth, the daughter of a Mr Bennett, wine merchant and alderman of the city of Chester. Bennett was opposed to the marriage, and after Bancroft and his fiancée ran away to be married, Mr Bennett chased them, stabbed Bancroft in the leg with his sword, took his daughter back home, and forbade them to have any contact. However, they eloped a second time, and after they married Bennett disowned his daughter and they were never reconciled, though he did bequeath £1000 to each of their two daughters, Elizabeth (bap. 6 May 1789) and Ann (bap. 7 May 1783).
1780 (16 Feb) At Bolton Parish Church, Samuel Crompton, weaver, married Mary Pimlott, a spinster from Turton who originally hailed from Warrington.
Married by Reverend James Fold, known locally as Parson Folds
1780 (21 Dec) Jesse Hartley (1780 – 1860), Civil Engineer and Superintendent of the Concerns of the Dock Estate in Liverpool, England between 1824 and 1860, born. Died 24 Aug 1860.
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1780 Wallsuches was highly successful, and by 1780 the former shippon and hut had been converted into a bleach works powered by six water wheels.
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1780 The first spinning mill was built
1780 James Thwaites had built the first spinning mill in Bolton in 1780. It stood on King Street
1780 Colonel Robert Torrens (1780-1864 , British army officer, political economist, MP, owner of the influential Globe newspaper and prolific writer. born in Ireland of Protestant parents MP for Bolton from 14 Dec 1832 His son, also Robert (1814-1884) was the third Premier of South Australia Died 27 May 1864
1783 (2 May) Canon James Slade born in Daventry
The Vicar of Bolton, Lancashire from 1817 to 1856
He died in1860 and was buried in the churchyard of St James, Breightmet
Abt 1783 Andrew Knowles, born
Founder of Andrew Knowles & Sons, one of the largest collieries businesses in the country at the time
One of the original Councillors at the time of Bolton’s incorporation in 1838.
Died 1847 Eagley Bank, Bolton, Lancashire
1784 Isaac Dobson, aged 17, arrived in Bolton from Patterdale and gained employment as a book-keeper to a Mr Badger, cabinet maker, in Blackhorse Street, close to Moor Lane.
1784-1786 British cotton products were successful in European markets, constituting 40.5% of exports in 1784–1786.
1785 William Bolling, English Tory and later Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1832 and 1848, born in Bolton, the third son of Edward Bolling
The family were cotton manufacturers and he and his father were among the promoters of the Bolton and Leigh Railway which opened in 1828 MP for Bolton from 14 Dec 1832
Died 30 Aug 1848
1786 (18 Aug) Samuel Horrocks (born 1766) married Miss Alice Duckworth of Edgworth.
1786 (18 Sep) On Monday, 18th September 1786, a youth named James Holland was publicly hanged on Bolton Moor for stealing 30 yards of cotton cloth worth £3……. despite efforts made to secure his pardon on the grounds of insufficient evidence. His body was handed over to the medical profession for surgical research.
1786 Robert Heywood, Mayor of Bolton 1839-1840, born in Bolton, the son of a successful textile manufacturer
Died Bolton, Lancashire 1868
1786 Peter Ainsworth started building Moss Bank House (>1790)
1787 Peter Ainsworth died
The business was inherited by his son, also Peter Ainsworth
1787 William Hulton born, the son of the High Sheriff of Lancashire, at the family seat, Hulton Park. Died 1864
1788 Ormrod and Hardcastle spinning and manufacturing firm began in 1788, with the partnership of James Ormrod and Thomas Hardcastle, and the purchase of the Flash Street mills in Bolton, Greater Manchester. These two men have been identified amongst the fathers of the early cotton trade in North West England.
1788 James Whitehead (1788-1872), a calenderer in the cloth finishing business and later a brewer in Bolton-le-Moors, born
1788/1789 James Black, physician, the son of William Black, merchant, and his wife, Janet, née Douglas, was born in Scotland. He was for some time physician to the Bolton Infirmary and Dispensary. Died 1867
1789 The Bolton industrialist family, the Ainsworths, who had a factory at Halliwell in Bolton for bleaching by 'souring', persuaded Mathieu Vallet to work for them and introduce chemical bleaching into their factory. Thus, Mathieu went to Bolton with his son Victor and worked for the Ainsworths for a number of years.
1789 Rev Thomas Holland, pastor at Bank Street, died.
1790s Bleaching using chlorine was introduced by the Ainsworths at Halliwell Bleachworks
1790s In the 1790s, James Watt’s steam power was applied to textile production.
1790s Fenton, Murray and Jackson was an engineering company at the Round Foundry off Water Lane in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Fenton Murray and Wood was founded in the 1790s by ironfounder Matthew Murray and textile machine engineer David Wood to build machine tools (mainly for the textile industry) and stationary steam engines. The company was capitalised by colliery owner James Fenton (1754–1834) as the main financier, and millwright William Lister, a sleeping partner
1790 (1 Aug) Benjamin Hick (1790 – 1842) was a successful English civil and mechanical engineer, art collector and patron, born at Huddersfield. His improvements to the steam engine and invention of scientific tools were held in high esteem by the engineering profession, some of Hick's improvements became public property without claiming the patent rights he was entitled to. Died 9 Sep 1842
1790 (24 Nov) Peter Ainsworth, British politician of the Whig Party, born
MP for Bolton 9 Jan 1835 – 1847
Died 18 Jan 1870
1790 Benjamin Hick, mechanical engineer, born at Leeds
1790 Moss Bank House was completed
(<1786)
1790 Isaac Dobson went into business in Bolton
1790 Dobson & Barlow Ltd, one of the oldest engineering companies in the world, was founded by Isaac Dobson (1767-1833) for the production of textile machinery
1790 Silverwell House built by John Pilkington, a dimity manufacturer.
It was the scene of the tea party of important business men that meet to plan for the incorporation of Bolton as a Borough in 1838 – among them Charles Darbyshire and Robert Heywood
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1790 Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Act passed.
1790-1791 In 1790 there was a proposal for a waterway to link Manchester with Bolton and Bury. The canal was to start at the River Irwell at Manchester. One of the land owners, Matthew Fletcher, was the original technical adviser and he was a mining engineer turned coal owner. At a meeting on 19 January 1791 the last amendments to the draft Parliamentary Bill were made. The Bill received its royal assent on 13 May 1791.
1790s Chemical bleaching using chlorine was introduced to Bolton in the 1790's by the Ainsworth's at Halliwell Bleachworks and the Ridgways at Wallsuches Bleachworks in Horwich.
1791 (30 Mar) James Arrowsmith (1791-1870), cotton spinner and Mayor of Bolton: 1840-41, born in Darcy Lever, Bolton. Father of Peter Rothwell Arrowsmith, Mayor of Bolton 1853-55. Died 10 Oct 1870 .
1791 The Bolton, Bury and Manchester Canal began in 1791. Travel on it was slow but cheap, and heavy loads could be easily shifted.
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1791 Thomas Grey Egerton (born 1749) was listed as a subscriber to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal navigation in 1791.
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1791 Robert Peel (1750-1830) was listed as a subscriber to the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal navigation in 1791.
1792 (20 May) Thomas Bonsor Crompton born
Died 8 Sep 1858
1792 (20 May) Mr. Thomas Bonsor Crompton was one of Farnworth's benefactors, born on the 20th May 1792 in Farnworth. His grandfather had a paper mill and bleach works at Great Lever, and when he saw what a manageable site Farnworth presented for manufacturing purposes, he obtained a lease from the Duke of Bridgewater for a portion of land - now known as Moses Gate Country Park - and built a paper mill and bleachworks. His son John - the father of Thomas Bonsor succeeded to the works and he built Rock Hall as his residence but he did not occupy it however, for he died at the time of its completion. Thomas Bonsor Crompton had two brothers but with the passage of time he was to become the sole proprietor of the works at Farnworth and additionally other works at Worthington. He enlarged the business and improved the system of printing and packing papers. He supplied the principal newspapers both in London and the provinces. He invented a "continuous drying system" and was one of the first to turn the waste of cotton mills to account in the manufacture of paper and was the foremost to apply fibrous material in its raw condition to that purpose. Mr. Thomas Bonsor Crompton died September 5th 1858 aged 66; he is buried in the Church grounds.
1792 (17 Oct) Sir John Bowring, KCB, English political economist, traveller, miscellaneous writer, polyglot, and the 4th Governor of Hong Kong, born in Exeter. MP for Bolton 2 Jul 1841- 1849 Died 23 Nov 1872
1792 Thomas Bonsor Crompton born in Farnworth
He patented a method in 1820 of continuously drying paper, which was a breakthrough in the manufacture of machine made paper. In 1828 he built the Farnworth paper mills on the banks of the River Croal and supplied paper to many northern and London newspapers. He became the proprietor of the Morning Post
1792 The first of the Bolton Improvement Acts was passed by the Houses of Parliament which established the Little Bolton Police Commissioners (or Trustees) who took responsibility for improving the township.
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1792 Bolton: A body of men called Improvement Commissioners is formed to pave, clean, and light the streets.
1792 An Act of Parliament was procured to enclose Bolton Moor. In effect this meant that all the common land in the town was taken under the control of three commissioners -- Matthew Fletcher, Ralph Fletcher and David Claughton -- and then sold or rented out, the proceeds going towards improving the town's roads and amenities.
c.1792 Peter Rothwell (c. 1792-1849), iron founder, born
1793 Tom Paine, the English author of the Rights of Man, which sought to justify the French Revolution, was burned in effigy in the Market Place
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1793 In 1793 Thomas Bancroft (1756–1811) was presented by William Cleaver, Bishop of Chester, to the living of Bolton-le-Moors, then worth about £250 a year.
1793 Thomas Bancroft (1756-1811) became vicar of Bolton, where he remained until his death in 1811.
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1793 In 1793 John Ashworth built the water powered New Eagley cotton spinning mill on the banks of the Eagley brook.
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1793 Horwich Parish School started life in 1793 when it was called Horwich Old Chapel School. The inscription over the door reads: “The Encouragement of useful Learning and Promotion of true Religion and Virtue. This School was erected in the Year 1793 by Voluntary Subscription.”
It is now the Playcare Children's Nursery.
1794 (4 Sep) Henry Ashworth, cotton master, was born at Birtwistle, near Bolton, the eldest of the six sons and five daughters of John Ashworth, land agent and cotton spinner, and his wife, Isabel Thomasson.
Died 1880.
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1794 In 1794, the first Roman Catholic church in the Bolton area since the English Reformation was established. It was Ss Peter and Paul Church on Pilkington Street. It was built from 1798 to 1800 outside the town in a churchyard among fields.
1794-1796 In 1794–1796, British cotton goods accounted for 15.6% of Britain’s exports, and in 1804–1806 grew to 42.3%. (>1804-1806)
1795 (12 Jul) Thomas Ridgway Bridson, cotton bleacher, was baptized at Horwich, Lancashire. The eldest son of Paul Bridson, merchant and banker of the Isle of Man, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Thomas Ridgway, of Wallsuches, Horwich, near Bolton. Died 1863.
1795 Thomas Ridgway Bridson, cotton bleacher, born in Horwich
Mayor of Bolton 1847-1848
Great-great-great- grandfather of Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1997-2007
1795 Peter Ormrod, wealthy cotton manufacturer, industrialist and banker, born in Bolton
Provided money (£45,000) to build Bolton Parish Church
Lived at Halliwell Hall – later owned the village of Scorton near Garstang – run on paternalistic lines-no pub, no beer shop, no policeman
Known as “Ready Money Peter”-never did business on credit
Died 17 May 1875 Wyersdale Park, Garstang, Lancashire
1795 Bolton was booming. The population was up to 11,000 and was growing faster all the while.
1795 Matthew Murray went into partnership with David Wood (1761–1820) and set up a factory at Mill Green, Holbeck. There were several mills in the vicinity and the new firm supplied machinery to them. The firm was so successful that in 1797 it moved to larger premises at Water Lane, Holbeck.
1795 The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal opened in 1795, serving coal mines from the Clifton, Agecroft, Kearsley and Pendleton mines.
1795 Robert Potter (1795-1854), born in Staffordshire, England. His father Joseph Potter Snr (1756–1842) Architect of The Church of England educational institution, Bolton.
Between 1795-1810 The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal was built
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1796 (27 Oct) Wm. son of Wm. Horrocks was robbed and murdered by Saml. Longworth in Dean Church Lane as he was returning from Bolton about 8 o'clock at night, Oct. 27th, 1796. Longworth was executed at Lancaster in the beginning of April following. Gibbeted on Dean Moor and hung about 8 weeks.
1796 St George’s Church opened
1796 St George’s Church, St Georges Road, Little Bolton established
It closed in 1975 and is now used as a craft centre
1797 (27 May) Sir Thomas Bazley, first baronet, British industrialist, cotton spinner and Liberal politician, was born on 27 May 1797 at Gilnow, near Bolton, Lancashire, the son of Thomas Bazley (1773–1845), sometime cotton manufacturer, mathematician, and journalist, and his wife, Anne, the daughter of Charles Hilton of Horwich, near Bolton. Educated at Bolton grammar school, Bazley was apprenticed in 1812 to Ainsworth & Co. of Bolton before starting his own business as a yarn agent in 1818. In 1826 he moved to Manchester, having formed a partnership with Robert Gardner to control the New Bridge Mills, Manchester, and the Dean Mills, Halliwell, Bolton. Their fine-spinning and linen-thread concern became the most extensive in this branch of Lancashire's textile industry, employing some 1400 hands in 1861.
Died 14 Mar 1885
1797 (27 May) Sir Thomas Bazley, 1st Baronet DL (1797 – 1885), British industrialist and Liberal politician, born at Gilnow, near Bolton, Lancashire. His father, also Thomas, was a cotton manufacturer, mathematician and journalist. Died 18 Mar 1885.
1797 (8 Aug) William Carpenter, journalist and compiler of religious books, was probably born in St James's, Westminster, the son of William and Mary Carpenter. He was elected to represent Bolton at the first Chartist convention of 1839, where he attacked Feargus O'Connor's extreme political rhetoric and opposed proposals for a general strike Died 1874
1797 Charles James Darbishire, born in Bolton, Lancashire
Mayor of Bolton 1838-1839
Died in Rivington, Lancashire
1797 The partnership of Matthew Murray and David Woods was so successful that in 1797 it moved to larger premises at Water Lane, Holbeck.
1797 In 1797 The Hand and Banner, Deansgate was the first meeting place of the Corinthian 221 masonic lodge which met there for three years until it moved to the Lord Nelson on Derby Street (the lodge still exists today).
1798 (5 Apr) Bolton Light Horse Volunteers – two troops raised
1798 Bolton Light Horse formed
1798 Thomas Bancroft (1756-1811) was made chaplain to the Bolton volunteers by royal warrant.
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1798-1800 Ss Peter and Paul Church on Pilkington Street. It was built from 1798 to 1800 outside the town in a churchyard among fields. (<1794)
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1799 (18 Jun) William Lassell, astronomer, born in Moor Lane, Bolton, his father was a timber merchant.
Left Bolton for Liverpool in 1815
Attended Bolton Day School and Rochdale Academy
Brewer, telescope builder and major figure in astronomy
Died 5 Oct 1880 Maidenhead, Berkshire.
1799 In 1799 William Murdoch, who worked for the firm of Boulton and Watt, invented a new type of steam valve, called the D slide valve. This, in effect, slid backwards and forwards admitting steam to one end of the cylinder then the other.
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From the late 18th century Bolton was transformed by the industrial revolution. It grew very rapidly.
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