Bolton Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History
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Bolton Surname Name Meaning, Origin, History, & Etymology
This popular Anglo-Saxon last name developed as a habitational surname denoting a person who was from any of numerous places in England and Scotland named Bolton, particularly Bolton in Lancashire, England, deriving from the Old English word boðl meaning “dwelling” or “house” or “hall” and tun meaning “enclosure” and “settlement”. Other villages, parishes, and chapelries named Bolton were located in West Riding of Yorkshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Westmorland, and East Lothian. The Domesday Book of 1086 AD, a survey of England and Wales ordered by William the Conqueror, spells the locations as Bodeltun and Bodeltone. One author, William Arthur, in his 1857 book An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names, states the name means “the round hill” or “the abrupt, steep, round hill”. Still other derive the name from the Old English words boga and land, meaning an area characterized by bends in the land.
The name became fairly numerous in Ireland during the 1600s. In his 1964 book Supplement to Irish Families by Edward MacLysaght, states the following in regarding to this surname: “It appears frequently in the first half of that century and is still most numerous in Counties Antrim and Derry, though found in all the provinces with a fair number in Dublin. Members of these unrelated families have held many prominent positions since Sir Richard Bolton was Solicitor-General In 1619. No less than 57 Boltons are in the register of students of Dublin University from 1611 to 1844 and it is worthy of note that only ten per cent of these were from Ulster. De Burgh in his Landowners of Ireland (1878) names fifteen with extensive estates in thirteen counties, only one in Ulster (Cavan)”.
In his 1848 book titled A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis states the following about this family name: “Harrock Hall, the seat of the Boulton family, was purchased in 1839 from the Rigbys, of whom, in 1567, it had already been the residence for four generations: the house, around which are 420 acres, has been restored by the present possessor”.
Surname Spelling variants
Spelling or names with similar etymologies include Boulton, Boultone, and Boalton.
Bolton Family Mottoes
I have identified eight Bolton family mottoes:
1) Vi et virtute (By strength and valour)
2) Industria et virtute (By industry and virtue)
3) Dux vitae ratio (Reason is the guide of life)
4) Faire son devoir (Do your homework)
5) Mens conscia recti (A mind aware of what is right)
6) Aimez loyaulte (Love loyalty)
7) Aspiro (I aspire)
8) La mort me suit (Death follows me*)
*An allusion the bolts, or arrows, in the arms and crest of the family
Early Bearers of the Bolton Surname
William Boulton was born c. 1175 AD in Boulton, Yorkshire, England. His son, William Bolton or de Boulton, was born in Harewood, Yorkshire, England in 1196 AD. He married Emma Ruffus and had a daughter with her named Elizabeth. Elizabeth was born in the same town in 1222 AD. She married William Gasciogne V in 1248 AD, and had a son with him named William VI.
Robert de Boultron was recorded in the Early Yorkshire Charters in 1191 AD. Thomas de Bolton was recorded in Warwickshire, England in 1262 AD. The Hundred Rolls of 1273 AD, a census of Wales and England, known in Latin as Rotuli Hundredorum lists two bearers of this surname: Michael de Boulton (Yorkshire) and Thomas de Boulton (Lincolnshire). Adam de Boultone was reeve of Dunfres, Scotland in 1287 AD. The Placita de Quo Warranto documents Ricard de Boulton in Northumberland c. 1292. William fitz Geffray de Boiultone del counte de Edeneburk was documented in 1296 AD. John of Boulton was a mason at the Castle of Linlithgow in Sotland in 1302 AD. Robert Bolton was documented in Lancashire in 1371 AD. The Poll Tax Rolls of Yorkshire in 1379 AD also lists one bearer: Agne