Background
William Hulton was the son of William Hulton and Jane (née Brooke).
William Hulton was the son of William Hulton and Jane (née Brooke).
He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford.
The Hultons owned the estate since the late-12th century. In 1811 he was appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire. In this capacity he ordered the arrest of 12 men, Luddites, for arson at Westhoughton Mill in Westhoughton town centre.
Four of the offenders were hanged outside Lancaster Castle, including a boy aged 12.
Hulton gained a reputation as being tough on crime and political dissent and in 1819 was made chairman of the Lancashire and Cheshire Magistrates, a body set up for dealing with the civil unrest endemic in the area. In 1819 he summoned the local Yeomanry to deal with a large crowd in Street Peter"s Square in Manchester which had gathered to hear the political agitator Henry Hunt.
The Yeomanry, on horseback with sabres drawn, forced its way through the crowd to break up the rally and allow Hunt to be arrested. Fifteen people died from sabre and musket wounds or trampling and the event became known as the Peterloo Massacre.
Hulton was vilified by the local population and was obliged to decline a safe parliamentary seat offered to him in 1820.
Death: He died on the 30th of March 1864 at Leamington Priors, Warwickshire & was buried on the 5th of April 1864 at Deane, Lancashire
As the owner of Hulton Park he derived income from the seven collieries working the coal measures under the park or nearby and in 1824 became chairman of the Bolton and Leigh Railway Company, which planned and built the first public railway in Lancashire. The line ran to the west of his estate from Bolton to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Leigh, enabling him to deliver his coal to market more cheaply. The line was connected to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 giving him and other local businessmen access to the Portuguese of Liverpool.
Until 1831 Hulton paid his workers with tokens or vouchers that could only be redeemed in his company shop, a practice outlawed by the passing of the Truck Acting 1831.
In 1843 Hulton paid his colliers the poorest wages in Lancashire. He remained opposed to permitting the right to free assembly and was vehemently opposed to miners congregating with the object of forming a union.
He established the Hulton Colliery Company in 1858. William Ford Hulton, b.
19 September 1811 – daughter 18 May 1879
Amelia Marie Hulton, b.
1815 – daughter 5 February 1871, who married Henry Montagu Villiers
Arthur Hyde Hulton, b. 31 July 1816
Sophia Frances Anne Hulton, b.
27 October 1817
Randle Harrington Hulton, b.
23 December 1818
Frederick Bleythin Hulton, b. 26 January 1820 – daughter 18 September 1839
Mary Gertrude Hulton, b. 21 July 1821
Charles Norleigh Hulton, b.
10 January 1823
Hugh Thurstain Hulton, b.
10 March 1824
Alfred Lacy Hulton, b. 1 August 1825
Emma Louisa Hulton, b.
12 March 1827
Edward Lister Hulton, b.