Bolton, Lancashire Poor Law Union

History
Bolton Poor Law Union was constituted in 1837, under the Poor Law Reform Act of 1834. It comprised the following townships:

Parish of Bolton-le-Moors

Bradshaw, Breightmet, Darcy Lever, Edgworth, Entwistle, Great Bolton, Harwood, Little Bolton, Little Lever, Longworth, Lostock, Quarlton, Sharples, Tonge-with-Haulgh, Turton.

Parish of Deane

Farnworth, Halliwell, Heaton, Horwich, Kearsley, Little Hulton, Middle Hulton, Over Hulton, Rumworth, Westhoughton.

Parish of Middleton Great Lever.

The townships of Anglezarke and Rivington, Bolton-le-Moors Parish were in Chorley Union; Blackrod Bolton-le-Moors Parish was in Wigan Union.

Astley Bridge, Lancashire, Bolton le Moors St Peter, Lancashire , Bolton le Moors Christ Church, Lancashire , Bolton le Moors Emmanuel, Lancashire, Bolton le Moors Holy Trinity, Lancashire Bolton le Moors St George, Lancashire , Bradshaw, Lancashire Deane, Lancashire , Farnworth and Kearsley, Lancashire , Halliwell St Peter, Lancashire ,Halliwell St Paul, Lancashire Harwood, Lancashire , Horwich, Lancashire Lever Bridge, Lancashire , Little Bolton All Saints, Lancashire , Little Bolton St John, Lancashire ,Little Hulton, Lancashire Little Lever, Lancashire ,Tonge, Lancashire , Turton, Lancashire ,Walmsley, Lancashire ,West Houghton, Lancashire

Fishpool Workhouse
The Bolton Union Workhouse at Fishpool in Farnworth was opened in 1861. Before that date, the Guardians used the former township workhouses of Great Bolton Fletcher Street and Turton Goose Cote Hill. Other premises administered by the Board included the Casual or Tramp Wards in Kings Gate, Great Bolton, Hollins Cottage Homes for poor children in Farnworth, and Townleys Hospital, which was built on a site next to Fishpool Workhouse. The Board was abolished by the Local Government Act of 1929, and its powers and functions transferred to the Public Assistance Committees of Bolton County Borough and Lancashire County Councils

In 1930, the Local Government Act abolished the Board of Guardians who had their final meeting on 26th March. The running of the workhouse (now known as Fishpool Institution) passed to a new Public Assistance Committee. Following the inauguration of the National Health Service in 1948, Fishpool became Townley's Annexe, then Townley's Branch. Then the whole site came under the name of Bolton District General Hospital, now the Royal Bolton Hospital. Bolton Union operated an establishment for casuals or vagrants known as Kings Gate Institution on Kings Gate in Bolton.

Hollins Cottage Homes
In the mid-1870s, Bolton was one of the unions who pioneered the use of "cottage homes" as an alternative form of accommodation for pauper children away from the main workhouse. On an area at the south of the workhouse, four houses were built around a central green, together with a school. Each single-sex cottage accommodated thirty children and had a large living-room, kitchen, three dormitories, and a bedroom for the house-parents. The site, which became known as Hollins Cottage Homes, was subsequently extended southwards with the erection of further cottages, together with a gymnasium, and superintendent's house at the south-west. The homes were also walled off from the main workhouse site and had their own separate entrance from Plodder Lane at the south.

Records
The Bolton Union has one of the best preserved record collection of surviving records. The GSU microfilming will be detailed and then the Bolton Museum holdings to enable comparison.

The Genealogical Society of Utah microfilm Workhouse records for Bolton Poor Law Union, 1880-1905

Microreproduction of records housed at the Central Library, Civic Centre, Bolton. The workhouse is located in Farnworth. Some registers contain indexes. Bolton Archives Central Library: GBO/9/42-79, 143-154; JBO/11/1-3; GBO/10/1-17, GBO/9/133A.

21 microfilms

Bolton Museums holdings

Fever Wards Admissions 1847-1848 Original GBO/9* Deaths 1847-1848 Microfilm D9:21 Fletcher Street Admissions 1839-1861 Microfilm D9:25-27 Births 1839-1860 Microfilm D9:21 Birth Index 1839-1860 B929.3 UNI Deaths 1839-1861 Microfilm D9:21 Discharges 1839-1861 Microfilm D9:25-27 Inmates (Index) 1820-1833 B362.5 LAM Kingsgate Casual Wards Admissions 1939-1940 Original GBO/9*

Farnworth Fishpool Admissions 1861-1880 Microfilm D9:27-31 Admissions 1880-1948 Original GBO/9* Births 1861-1926 Microfilm D9:21 Birth Index 1861-1926 B929.3 UNI Burials 1905-1908 Microfilm D9:21 Deaths 1866-1888 Microfilm D9:21 Deaths 1896-1941 Microfilm D9:21 Discharges 1861-1880 Microfilm D9:27-31 Discharges 1880-1948 Original GBO/9* Turton Goose Cote Hill Admissions 1839-1861 Microfilm D9:24 Births 1839-1858 Microfilm D9:21 Deaths 1839-1861 Microfilm D9:21 Discharges 1839-1861 Microfilm D9:24

http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/bolton-archives/archives-indexes/workhouse-registers/

Websites
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Bolton/Bolton.shtml for history and maps