1930s -1940s. There were 47 cinemas within five miles of Bolton Town Hall.
1930 (22 Jan) Tonge Moor Picturedrome, Tonge Moor Road, closed by fire
1930 (13 Apr) Robert Matthewson (1930 – 2000), English footballer and FIFA referee, born in Newcastle upon Tyne. Died 10 Nov 2000
1930 (30 Apr) Col George Hesketh (1852-1930) - Mayor of Bolton: 1905-06 (Conservative), died in The Fylde, Lancashire 30 April 1930.
1930 (6 Jun) Frank Holmes Tyson, England cricketer, journalist and commentator, born in Farnworth, near Bolton in Lancashire.
1930 (4 Oct) That night, the airship R-101 left its base at the Royal Airship Works at Cardington, Bedfordshire, for a maiden flight to Karachi, then part of British India, with 55 passengers and crew.
1930 (5 Oct) At 2am the R101, flying in poor weather and at a low altitude, went into a dive and crashed near Beauvais in France. News of the crash, which led to the deaths of 48 people, was seen as a national disaster and ended British government research into airship transport. The tragedy was even bigger than the famous Hindenburg disaster seven years later, which claimed the lives of 35 people. “SHE’S gone up in flames.” These were the five words uttered by wireless operator Arthur Disley who broke the news of the R101 airship disaster to the world. The Bolton man was one of only a handful of survivors of the crash, which was one of the worst airship disasters. After his dramatic escape from the wreckage, Mr Disley, burned and dazed, staggered across the ploughed fields of northern France to find a telephone and contact the Air Ministry in London. Mr Disley was later awarded the medal of the civil division of the Order of the British Empire for his bravery in refusing treatment until he had alerted the authorities to the disaster.
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One the six surviving members of the R101 crash
Wireless Operator Arthur Disley was one of a few men who served on both the R100 and R101 airships and indeed was part of the crew on the R100 flight to Canada. According to the R100 pre flight press release he joined the RNAS on 04.03.1920. He was stationed in Shortstown from 1930-1931. When the R101 fell to the ground Arthur Disley was able to escape however his hands were badly burned but he showed great fortitude and insisted on relaying the news back home before allowing himself to be medically treated. For this act of selflessness he was awarded an Order of The British Empire medal. We don't have any details of his further career or details of his death.
Name: Arthur Disley / Married/Birth Date:22 Aug 1902
Residence 1939 4 Hoodlands Av. Eccles, Lancashire, England
Occupation:
Wireless Operator Mech Supervisor Air Minimally Civil Aviation Ground State
Schedule Number:29 Sub Schedule Number: 1 Enumeration District: NUMH Registration district:463/3.
Household Members: Sarah F Disley / Alan K Disley /Winifred L Disley
Marriages Dec 1923
Arthur Disley =Sarah J Winter Bolton 8c 569
Deaths Dec 1979
DISLEY ARTHUR 22AU1902 LIVERPOOL 36 370
Dix Noonan Webb : Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria (23 September 2011) 915 - The extremely rare and emotive British Empire Medal awarded to Arthur Disley, one of just six survivors from the R. 101 disaster in France in October 1930 - though suffering from severe burns, he insisted on telephoning first news of the disaster to the Air Ministry British Empire Medal, (Civil) G.V.R. (Arthur Disley), in its fitted card box of issue, good very fine £6000-8000 - £6,000
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1930 (12 Oct) David Wright Young, British Labour politician, born in Greenock
MP for Bolton East Feb 1974- 1983 and MP for Bolton South East 1983-1997
Died 1 Jan 2003
1930 (Dec)(Cyril) Paul Abbatt (born 1899) married (Norah) Marjorie Cobb (1899-1991)
1930 (Dec) JR Tognarelli (operator of express services from Bolton to Manchester) taken over by Bolton, Manchester, Oldham and Salford corporations and LUT (December).
1930 The Bolton Cricket League began in 1930 after breaking away from the Bolton Cricket Association.
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1930 Eagley become a founder member of the Bolton Cricket League.
1930s Boltonians have long been fans of professional wrestling. Even be-fore it became a staple of Saturday afternoon television in the 1960s, families would flock to the Wryton Stadium in Blackburn Road to watch live bouts as long ago as 1930.
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1930 The on-going road widening scheme along a stretch of Old Kiln Lane from Markland Hill to Bob’s Smithy.
1930 The fish market demolished
1930 Housing Act
1930 Road Traffic Act
1930 Lancashire won the County Cricket Championship for the fourth time in five years. Dick Tyldesley took 121 wickets for under 15 each
1930 Dick Pym played his last of his 336 games for Bolton Wanderers
. After retiring from football he returned to the fishing industry.
1930, under the Local Government Act 1929, the Poor Law Unions were finally abolished, with their responsibilities transferred to the county councils and county boroughs.
1930 In the British Empire Games in Hamilton, Bolton-born swimmer Joseph Whiteside, representing England, won silver in the 4×200 yards Freestyle Relay (with Freddie Milton, Norman Brooks, and Arthur Watts). Whiteside also finished fourth in the 400 yards freestyle.
1930-1934 Sir George Grenfell-Baines, the founder of Building Design Partnership, worked in Bradshaw Gass and Hope’s Bolton office
Abt 1930 Maurice Lindsay born
Former pupil of Thornleigh Salesian College
The most successful chairman in Wigan Rugby Leagues history, winning more than 20 trophies between 1979 and 1992
1931 (23 Jan) Knowles Edge, died at Great Marld, Smithills.
Buried at St Peters Church, Halliwell, Bolton
1931 (21 Mar) Edward (Ted) Vizard played the last of his 512 league and cup games for Bolton Wanderers. During his time at the club he scored 70 goals.
1931 (Mar) Ray Westwood made his professional Bolton Wanderers debut against Manchester City
1931 (22 Jun) Gordon James Oakes, British Labour Party politician, born in Widnes
MP for Bolton West 1964-1970
Died 14 Aug 2005
1931 (21 Jul) James Meadows (1931 – 1994), English footballer and manager, born. Died 3 Jan 1994.
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1931 (25 Sep) Gandhi’s secret arrival at the village of Edgworth
Here he met northern mill owners at the Victorian mansion of Greenthorne, off Broadhead Road, the home of Miss Annie Barlow
Gandhi was on a visit to Blackburn and Darwen, a brief distraction to the weightier business of discussing India’s constitution and independence at the Round Table Conference in London.
While here his mission was to placate local cotton mill workers over accusations that a boycott of British cloth in India – led by Gandhi – was closing mills here and putting thousands of operatives on the dole.
1931 (25 Oct) James McIlroy MBE (1931 – 2018), Northern Ireland international footballer, born. Died 20 Aug 2018.
1931 General Election; Sir John Haslam MP for Bolton alongside Sir Cyril Entwistle
Haslam was MP until his death in 1940.
1931 The statues put in place on the Victoria Square Cenotaph.
1931 Construction of Civic Centre Crescent begins
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1931 Bolton Little Theatre established.
1931 Shaw’s were taken over by Walker Cain Ltd in 1931.
1931 Regent Park Golf Club was designed by James Braid in 1931 (>1932)
1931-1935 England cricketer William Farrimond (1903 – 1979) played in four Tests from 1931 to 1935.
1931-1945 Major (Sir) Cyril Fullard Entwistle – MP for Bolton (Conservative)
1932 (6 Apr) Edmund Aspinall (1858-1940) laid the cornerstone marking the commencement of the Town Hall extension and the building of the Civic Centre 6 April 1932.
1932 (26 May) Ian Denzil Greaves (1932 – 2009), English football player and manager, born in Crompton, Lancashire. Died 2 Jan 2009.
1932 (30 Jul-14 Aug) The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
1932 (Sep) The Ashburner street market opened.
1932 (1 Oct) The widow of Colonel W.E. Walker generously donated funds to enable the build of The Walker School as a memorial to her late husband. On October 1 1932 the new school was opened. This makes it one of the oldest continuous Sunday Schools in the country.
1932 (11 Nov) The statues on either side of Bolton’s War Memorial representing “Peace Restraining war” and “Sacrifice” were finally unveiled.
The sculptor was Walter Marsden, an Accrington man, who had fought at Ypres and Cambrai as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment during the First World War. He was the holder of the Military Cross and Bar.
1932 Scot Lane Colliery had to close when the adjacent Aspull Pumping Pit was closed by Wigan Coal and Iron Co Ltd in 1932 .
1932 There were several accidents at Bickershaw Colliery, but the most serious was in 1932, when 19 men were drowned in the sump at the bottom of the shaft after an overwind of the cage.
1932 Harold Blackmore left Bolton Wanderers.
He had scored 111 goals in 153 games.
1932 In 1932 the Wesleyan Methodists joined with the Primitive Methodists and the United Methodists to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
1932 Regent Park Golf Club first opened to the public.
1932 Bolton Philatelic Society was formed.
1932 Fish Market in Bridge Street demolished
1932 Ashburner Street market opened
1932 The fish market in Ashburner Street opened in 1932.
1932 Work on extending the Town Hall and building the Crescent began.
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1932 In 1932 the British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS) was formed as a rival to the National Greyhound Racing Club, including Bolton as one of its founding members.
1932 Ethel Johnson (Bolton Harriers) in the 100m at the Olympics
1932 In 1932, Ethel Johnson (1908-1964) was one of a team of five women entered by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics as Britain's first female Olympians in athletics events, together with Gwendoline Porter, Eileen Hiscock, Nellie Halstead, and seventeen-year-old Violet Webb. They sailed for five days from Southampton to Quebec and then travelled a further 3000 miles by train before arriving in Los Angeles. Ethel was eliminated in the first round of the Olympic 100 metres contest. and had to be replaced due to injury by Violet Webb in the women's 4x100 metres relay.
1932 In the Summer Olympics Bolton –born swimmer, Joseph Whiteside, finished fifth with the British team in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay competition. In the 100 metres freestyle competition he was eliminated in the first round.
1932 In the 1932 winter season George Formby appeared in his first pantomime, Babes in the Wood, in Bolton.
1932-33 Bolton Wanderers finished 21st in the First Division and was relegated
1932-1937 Senate House (University of London) was constructed, as the first phase of a large uncompleted scheme designed for the University by Charles Holden. The Art Deco building consists of 19 floors and is 210 feet (64 m) high making it the second tallest building in London (after St Paul's Cathedral) when it was completed
Holden's original plan for the university building was for a single structure covering the whole site, stretching almost 1,200 feet (370 m) from Montague Place to Torrington Street. It comprised a central spine linked by a series of wings to the perimeter façade and enclosing a series of courtyards. The scheme was to be topped by two towers; the taller Senate House and a smaller one to the north The design features elevations of load-bearing brick work faced with Portland stone Construction began in 1932 and was undertaken by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. King George V laid the ceremonial foundation stone on 26 June 1933. Due to a lack of funds, the full design was gradually cut back, and only the Senate House and Library and the buildings for the Institute of Education and the School of Oriental Studies were completed in 1937 although the external flanking wings of the north-eastern courtyard were not constructed As he had with his earlier buildings, Holden also prepared the designs for the individual elements of the interior design of the building The onset of the Second World War prevented any further progress on the full scheme.
1933 (27 Feb) Stanley Anderson (1933 – 2018) English football player and manager. born. Died 10 Jun 2018.
1933 (1 Apr) An inside-forward, George Eastham made his Bolton debut against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on 1st April 1933.
1933 (25 Jun) Orr’s Motor Services of Little Lever purchased by Bolton, Salford and Bury corporations (25 June).
1933 (26 Jun) King George V laid the ceremonial foundation stone for Senate House (University of London)
1933 (30 Sep) Jonathan Gash, author, born in Bolton
Educated University of London, Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians
Creator of “Lovejoy”
Has also written as Graham Grant and using his real name, John Grant
Worked as a pathologist. Lived in York Street as a child.
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1933 (1 Nov) Joseph William Foster died at 59 Deane Road, Bolton, Lancashire.
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1933 The J W Foster & Sons founder Joseph William Foster (1881 – 1933) died in 1933 and his sons took over the firm.
1933 South Lancashire Transport (SLT) starts trolleybus operation on the Bolton to Leigh service.
1933 Town Hall Hotel closed in 1933.
1933 William (Billy) Butler scored 65 goals in 407 games for Bolton Wanderers before being transferred to Reading.
His new club was managed by his former teammate, Joe Smith.
1933 Leslie Halliwell’s first remembered trip to the cinema, at the age of four, when his mother took him to see Sylvia Sydney in a non-singing version of Madam Butterfly at the Queen’s Cinema in his hometown
1933 The Rock Garden at Moss Bank Park was planted
1933 Charles Frederick Sixsmith worked at Bentinck Mills, Farnworth, where he held the post of managing director for 40 years until his retirement in 1933.
1933 Wallsuches bleach works operated as one of the main industries in Horwich until 1933. The works were closed and became derelict and run-down.
The area has since been developed for housing incorporating the grade II listed buildings by Redrow.
1934 (1 Mar) Albert “Bert” Aspen, born in Bolton. Father of Brian Aspden.
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1934 (2 Jun) Deane Parish Church Memorial Hall: The Foundation Stone was laid by Joseph Taylor on June 2, 1934. (>3 Nov 1934)
1934 (4-11 Aug) The 1934 British Empire Games were the second of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, held in England, from 4–11 August 1934.
1934 (Aug) At the 1934 British Empire Games, the athletics events were held at the White City Stadium in London, England in August 1934.
1934 (Sep) Ray Westwood won his first international cap for England.
Soon afterwards he was used by Brylcreem to model for their hair products on posters and printed advertisements. He was paid five shillings for the use of his image on advertisements.
1934 (6 Oct) Bolton Wanderers record Football League win 8-0 v Barnsley. Division 2.
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1934 (3 Nov) Deane Parish Church Memorial Hall: The building was officially opened on November 3 by Sir John Haslam JP, Member of Parliament for Bolton with a special service. (<2 Jun 1934)
1934 (30 Nov) Doncaster-built Flying Scotsman reached 100mph on a London-to-Leeds run, driven by William Sparshatt, on November 30 1934.
1934 (6 Dec) Thursday - Crompton Cinema, Crompton Way opened - Dance Girl Dance and A Man of Sentiments.
1934 (6 Dec) The Crompton Cinema was opened on 6th December 1934 with Alan Dinehart in "Dance Girl, Dance" and Marian Marsh in "A Man of Sentiment".
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1934 At the Empire Games Ethel Johnson was a member of the English relay team which won the silver medal in the 220-110-220-110 yards event
(with Eileen Hiscock, Nellie Hastead and non-Olympian Ivy Walker)
At the 1934 Empire Games Ethel Johnson (1908-1964) was a member of the English relay team which won the silver medal in the 220-110-220-110 yards relay competition (with Eileen Hiscock, Nellie Halstead, Johnson and Ivy Walker).[2] In the 100 yards competition she finished fifth and in the 220 yards contest she finished sixth.
1934 Lancashire won the County Cricket Championship
1934 There was one cinema seat for every nine people living in Lancashire — the highest in England.
1934 The Imperial Hotel 3 and 5 Churchbank, closed 1934.
1934 It was in the Danvale Mills on Union Road that the 1934 film Sing As We Go was shot on location. It is said that during her time in Bolton, Gracie Fields was so struck by the poverty in the area that she bought over 200 food parcels for families.
1934 Sing As We Go is a 1934 British musical film starring Gracie Fields, John Loder and Stanley Holloway. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley.
1934 The Pineapple closed in 1934
1934 In the year of 1934 the Red Works was under control of Henry Dennis’s Son, Henry Dyke Dennis and became a private limited company known as Dennis Ruabon Ltd.
1934 Under the control of his son, Henry Dyke Dennis, the Hafod brickworks became a private limited company in 1934 - Dennis Ruabon Limited - and continued to produce materials including tiles, chimney pots and ornamental terracotta.
1934-35 Bolton Wanderers finished as runners up to Brentford in the Second Division and so won promotion to the top flight.
That season Ray Westwood scored 30 goals in 38 games, including four in the 8-0 home win over Barnsley
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