This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Bolton' or 'Boulton,' parishes, townships, and chapelries in various counties, mostly in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumb., and Westm.

Michael de Boulton, Yorkshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Thomas de Boulton, or Bolton, Lincolnshire, ibid.

Richard de Boulton, Northumberland, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

Agnes de Bolton, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Hugh Boolton, or Boulton, Staffordshire: Register of the University of Oxford.

1766. Married — George Bolton and Ann Bowker: St. George, Hanover Square.

1772. — George Boulton and Sophia Morgan: ibid.

Probably from Bolton in East Lothian. Adam de Boultone was reeve of Dunfres, 1287 (Bain, II, 324). William fiz Geffray de Boultone del counte de Edeneburk rendered homage, 1296 (ibid., p. 201). John of Boulton was employed as a mason at Castle of Linlithgow, 1302 (Bain, IV, p. 365), and Robert of Bolton, a Scot, was released from prison in Colchester, 1396 (Bain, IV, 483). Bessie Bolton is recorded in Edinburgh, 1640 (Edinb. Marr.), and William Bolton in Burntiland, 1645 (PBK., p. 242).

= Bolton, q.v.

Towns, parishes, and places in cos. Lancaster, Cumberl., Northumb., York, Westmorel., Haddington, &c. The first-mentioned gave name to an important family.

Local. A town in England; the round hill; the abrupt, steep, round hill.

Or De Montfichet, Earls Nelson. Alured Gernon, brother of William Gernon, Baron of Montfichet (see Cavendish), was father of Matthew, who had 3 sons— 1, Ralph, living 1165, ancestor of the Gernons and Cavendishes; 2, Richard, father of Osbert de Gladisfen; 3, Hugh Gernon or De Bolton. The Lordships of Bolton, Bradwell, Gapton, and Hopland, Suffolk, were exchanged, t. Henry I. or Stephen, by their then owner, with the Gernons, for Gyl in Normandy (Test. 295). Matthew G. was probably the grantee of Bolton, &c. He gave them to his sons Ralph, Richard, and Hugh; and Bartholomew de Bolton, son of Hugh, held these estates on condition of paying to Ralph Gernon (son of Ralph) and Osbert de Gladisfen (son of Richard) eight shillings annually (Suckling, Suff. i. 301,303, 323; Testa, 295). Bartholomew de B. was father of Joceus or Jocelin de B., who is mentioned in the Testa de Neville (103) as king’s bailiff’ of the district where Bolton was situate. After him Robert de B. occurs (Ib.), and in 1286 Thomas de Hopland, brother of the owner of Bolton, &c., occurs (Suckling, Suff. i. 323). The family of Bolton continued in Suffolk till t. James I.; but a branch settled in Norfolk, of which was William B. (probably a younger son of the Suffolk line), who m., c. 1430, an heiress in Norfolk; and from him descended the Lords of Brisingham and Heywood, who continued till the time of Elizabeth. From a younger branch of these descend the Earls Nelson, who obtained that title as the nearest heirs in blood of the renowned Nelson. The arms of the Boltons, or Boultons (on a bend argent, 3 leopards’ heads), were probably originally 3 escallops instead of leopards’ heads, an ancient coat of the Gernons being on a bend 3 escallops (Robson). Escallops were frequently exchanged by mistake for leopards’ heads.

(English), House or Hall town. The rebus to the name is a crossbow bolt in a tun. It is borne by the Boultons of Moul­ton and of Toronto as their crest.

Henry Boulton, of Moulton, co. Lincoln, Esq. (variant: Burke's “Landed Gentry”), had issue, Henry, D'Arcy, and George.— The second son, Hon. D'Arcy Boulton, Judge of the King's Bench, m. Elizabeth, dau. and co-heir of Mr. Serjeant James Forster (Serjeant-at-Law), by Susannah, his wife, dau. of Sir John Strange, Master of the Rolls, and settled in Toronto, C.W.-His eldest son, D'Arcy Boulton, of Toronto, Master in Chancery, m. Sarah, dau. of Christopher Robinson, Esq., and sister of Sir John B. Robinson, Bart., Chief Justice of Canada West; and, dying in 1846, was succeeded by his eldest son, William Henry Boulton, Mayor of Toronto, and Mem­ber Provincial Parliament, who m. Harriette Elizabeth Mann, only dau. of Thomas Dixon, K.N.L, K.L., of Boston, Mass.

From Bolton; a frequent location name in Lancashire, etc.

The Lancashire Boltons derive their name from parishes of the name in the county.

Boulton, Bakewell, Brassington, and Bonsall are the names of towns, townships, and parishes in the adjacent county of Derby.