A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Bolton, Henry
BOLTON. (Commander, 1829. f-p., 21; h-p., 17.)
Henry Bolton, born in July, 1796, is first cousin of Lieut. Jas. Bolton, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 19 March, 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Victorious 74, Capts. Graham Eden Hamond and John Talbot. Under the former officer he assisted at the reduction of Flushing, in Aug. 1809, where he was frequently exposed to the fire of the batteries; and, under Capt. Talbot, he was constantly employed on gunboat service in the Faro of Messina during the expected invasion of Sicily by Murat in the summer of 1810. He was also present, as Midshipman, at the memorable capture, 22 Feb. 1812, of the French 74-gun ship Rivoli, after a desperate conflict of four hours and a half, in which the enemy had 400 men with most of their officers killed and wounded, and the Victorious 27 killed and, including Mr. Bolton, 99 wounded. In 1813 we find the subject of this memoir engaged on many boat expeditions up the Chesapeake, and in 1814-15 cruizing off the Western Islands, in the Tiber 38, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres. He passed his examination in April of the latter year; then joined the Opossum 10, Capt. Lord John Hay, employed on the coast of France during the Hundred Days; was made Lieutenant, 14 July, 1818, into the Blossom 24, Capts. Fred. Hickey and Fred. Edw. Venables Vernon, on the South American station, whence he returned in July, 1820; afterwards joined, in Feb. 1827, the Thetis 46, Capt. Arth. Batt Bingham, one of the ships employed on the Brazilian coast during the Spanish Revolution; obtained his present rank 26 Aug. 1829; quitted the Thetis in Aug. 1830; and afterwards, from 20 March, 1832, to April, 1835, and from 11 July, 1837, to July, 1840, filled the situation of Inspecting Commander of the Coast Guard at Donaghadee and Waterford. He has since been unemployed.
Commander Bolton married, in 1839, Ann, only daughter of the late Wm. Kearney, Esq., of Waterford.