Pte. William Bolton
William Bolton enlisted in the town on the 27th September 1914 and served in No. 9 Platoon.
William was 25 years of age when he died from a wound to his chest on the 1st July 1916.
He was seen by Private Richard Barrow lying in a shell hole in No Man’s Land and is buried, close to where he fell, in Queens Cemetery at Serre; on his grave is the inscription “At rest”. William was reported as missing after the battle and later declared dead in April 1917 – his body no doubt found after a search of the battlefield once the Germans retreated from Serre in the spring of that year.
Born in Chorley on the 1st December 1890, William was one of seven children born to Jane Elizabeth (nee Greenwood) and James Bolton. In 1901 the family lived at 250 Moor Road in Chorley. He married Nellie Evans in the spring of 1914 and they lived at 292 Moor Road in Chorley, working at Birkacre Bleachworks and attending St. George’s Church. His parents ran the Sebastopol pub on Moor Road after the war.
