298 
THOMAS BOLTON, F.R.M.S. 
At King’s College Bolton studied with marked success, 
especially in mathematics and natural philosophy. In 1848, 
he obtained a Junior Scholarship, and in 1849 was awarded 
an Associateship in Natural Philosophy. In 1851 he passed 
the Matriculation Examination of the University of London, 
being placed fifth in honours in mathematics and natural 
philosophy. But from this training ground he was suddenly 
withdrawn by the death of his father, in October, 1851 (like¬ 
wise at the early age of fifty-five), compelling him to undertake 
the management of the works, and at about the same time 
another member of the Lee family, distantly related to Mr. 
Bolton, likewise entered the firm, namely, Mr. Yate Lee. 
From this time Mr. Bolton took a most active part in the 
whole educational and public life of Kinver, then a flourishing 
little town of some 4,000 inhabitants, and his efforts to 
promote the moral and intellectual well-being of the people 
were most untiring and unselfish. He was governor of the 
local grammar school, an honour which indeed he enjoyed 
up to the time of his death. He devoted weekly many hours 
of his evenings, which most other men would have spent in 
relaxation, to, on the one hand, prosecuting his own studies into 
microscopic life, and, on the other, to the endeavour to spread 
amongst the inhabitants of his own neighbourhood a desire 
for scientific knowledge, long before the value of such know¬ 
ledge was so generally recognised by the public as it now is. 
It may be specially mentioned that he organised the first 
science classes ever held in his own district in connection 
with the Science and Art Department. When the Education 
Act first brought School Boards into existence, he shared in 
the labours of the first Board in putting the Act into operation 
at Kinver. He took an active part in the institution and 
management of evening classes, and in the work of the Young 
Men’s Mutual Improvement Society. His devotion to the 
study of science brought him early in its formation into the 
ranks of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical 
Society, of which he became a member nearly five-and-twenty 
years ago, and likewise brought him into connection with the 
Dudley and Midland Geological Society, of which he was for 
several years one of the secretaries; and his scientific 
pursuits, thus cultivated, soon widely extended Ids' acquaint¬ 
ance with men of similar tastes. Nor was it in these 
directions only that his interest in the popular good 
manifested itself. During his whole residence in Kinver, 
Mr. Bolton was an active man in church and parish matters 
generally, and filled the position of churchwarden for many 
years. While he held this office he devoted a good deal of 
