Bolton Borough Police was the police force responsible for policing the borough of

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for 130 years between 1839 and 1969. A parliamentary report in June 1852 outlined that the borough force had 25 officers at an annual cost of £1,446, 11

Shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s and 7 pence. William John Howard was the chief constable of the borough force between 1930 and 1957. At the time of his appointment the force numbered 202 officers which rose to 241 officers by 1957. In March 1946 the force was in charge of policing

Bolton Wanderers F.C. Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

football stadium when the

Burnden Park disaster The Burnden Park disaster was a human crush that occurred on 9 March 1946 at Burnden Park football stadium, then the home of Bolton Wanderers. The crush resulted in the deaths of 33 people and injuries to hundreds of Bolton fans. It was the de ...

occurred during a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

match against

Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

33 football fans died and more than 400 were injured when barriers collapsed leading to crush and trampling injuries. On 1 April 1969, under a compulsory amalgamation scheme ordered by the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

(under the

Police Act 1964 The Police Act 1964 (1964 c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that updated the legislation governing police forces in England and Wales, constituted new police authorities, gave the Home Secretary new powers to supervise lo ...

), Bolton Borough Police was abolished and became part of

Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are at Hutton, near the city of Preston. , the force has 3,088 police officers ...

. Bolton was policed by Lancashire Constabulary for only around 5 years due to the creation of the metropolitan county of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

on 1 April 1974 under the auspices of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. The newly created

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

became responsible for policing Greater Manchester including Bolton. Bolton is currently designated as 'K' division within Greater Manchester Police for policing purposes.

Officers killed in the line of duty

The following officers of Bolton Borough Police are listed by th
Police Roll of Honour Trust
as having died during the course of their duties: * PC James Green. Died 25 July 1889. Aged 36. Died from injuries sustained when attempting to stop a runaway dray horse. He was run over and sustained serious injuries to his right knee and bruising to other parts of his body. His lower right leg was amputated, he died from complications. * Acting Sergeant John Geoffrey Wood Lace. Died 4 February 1962. Aged 38. On foot patrol in Higher Bridge Street, Bolton, a van mounted the footpath and collided with him. He received severe injuries and died the following day.

References

Defunct police forces of England History of Bolton {{UK-law-enforcement-agency-stub

Officers killed in the line of duty

See also

References