The Late Mr Thomas Bolton FRMS

by Anonymous

The Late Mr. Thomas Bolton, F.R.M.S.

 

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Our obituary on Tuesday contained a notice of the death of a Birmingham resident who has made a decided mark upon English biological work. A year ago the name of Mr. Thomas Bolton was brought into considerable prominence by an effort which was made, during the visit of the British Association to this town, to obtain for him some Government recognition of his many years of labour as a working naturalist; while to tens of thousands of visitors to the exhibition at Bingley Hall his figure became familiar, as the permanent attendant in the Natural History annexe. A memorial to Government, initiated by Mr. W. R. Hughes and Mr. T. Grosvenor Lee, with the active assistance of many prominent members of the Birmingham Natural History Society, received the signature of the President of the British Association (Sir W. J. Dawson), and of every biologist of standing, without single exception who was present at the meeting; and the success of this memorial we had the pleasure of announcing in these columns less than twelve months ago, in the form of a pension of £50. a year upon the Civil List. This pension Mr. Bolton has, unhappily, not lived long to enjoy. Although for many years resident in Birmingham, Mr. Bolton was not a Birmingham man. He was born in 1831, at Kinver, in Staffordshire, the son of an ironmaster, partner in the firm of Lee and Bolton. He was educated at Kinver Grammar School, and at King's College, London, at which latter place he was in training for an engineer, and there he obtained University honours in mathematics and natural philosophy, a college junior scholarship, and the associateship in natural philosophy. From his educational work he was suddenly withdrawn by the death of his father, compelling him to undertake the management of the ironworks; and at the same time the father of Mr. T. Grosvenor Lee entered the firm. While occupying this position Mr. Bolton's efforts to promote the knowledge and study of the natural sciences were most untiring and unselfish. He devoted every year many evenings and hours, which most other men would have spent in relaxation, to the study of microscopical science, and to the endeavour to spread amongst the inhabitants of his own neighbourhood a desire for scientific knowledge, long before the value of such knowledge was so generally recognised by the public as it now is. It may be especially mentioned that he organised the first science classes ever held in his own district in conjunction with the Science and Art Department. About nine years ago, however, the iron trade of Kinver fell upon evil times, and a complete collapse was the result. Mr. Bolton lost the whole of his private property, and had to begin the world afresh at an age when many men are thinking of retiring, and with a young family dependent upon his exertions. He then removed to Birmingham.

It is from this event, however, that the widespread knowledge of Mr. Bolton's name and abilities is dated, for he spent his time and earned his living by searching out and providing materials for the investigations of other biologists; sending living material to all parts of the three kingdoms, while at the same time pursuing his own investigations with the microscopic fauna of the Midlands. Thus, many of the specimens described in Mr. Saville Kent's "Manual of the Infusoria" were supplied by Mr. Bolton; and the same may be said of the Rotifera in the classic work by Messrs. Hudson and Gosse; and several of these minute organisms have been named in honour of him. In 1884 the Council of the Royal Society placed £50. in the hands of Prof. Ray Lankester for the purpose of employing Mr. Bolton to collect material for an investigation of the fresh-water fauna of the midland counties; and at the Fisheries Exhibition a gold medal was awarded to him for an exhibit illustrating minute life relating to the food of fishes. For the past three or four years Mr. Bolton has been the curator of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, and many of his investigations will be found in the transactions of that society, and in the pages of the Midland Naturalist. In his daily attendance at the rooms of the society in Mason College, he ever placed his knowledge freely at the disposal of all enquirers, and his loss will be very keenly felt. As a worker in the field of nature Mr. Bolton belonged to precisely the same stamp as the Scottish field naturalists immortalised by Mr. Smiles.

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