Bolitho, Cornwall

"Bolitho" redirects here. For the surname, see Bolitho (surname). For the court case, see Bolitho v City and Hackney HA.

Bolitho
Bolitho is located in Cornwall
Bolitho
Bolitho
Location within Cornwall
OS grid referenceSW6634
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCamborne
Postcode districtTR14
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall
50°09′53″N 5°15′53″W / 50.1647°N 5.2647°W / 50.1647; -5.2647

Bolitho (/bəˈlaɪθoʊ/ bə-LY-thoh, Cornish: Bosleythow)[1] is a village in west Cornwall, and a Cornish surname. The Bolitho Family own large estates in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.[2]

The name Bolitho comes from the Cornish language words bos, meaning 'dwelling', and Leythow, a personal name.[3]

There is also a place called Bolitho in the civil parish of Menheniot.[4]

Bolitho family

The surname Bolitho derives from this place.[5] Some of the Bolithos were ″merchant princes″, the Bolitho family's growth to prominence started with Thomas Bolitho (1765–1868). The family were initially tanners, who moved into lime-burning and tin smelting before becoming bankers. The Bolitho Bank eventually merged with Barclays in 1905,[6][7][8][9] with William Bolitho becoming the director of Barclays.[10] The arms of Bolitho are "Ermine on a plain chevron five bezants between two chevronels engrailed and three fleurs–de–lis Sable", with the motto "Re deu". The Paschal lamb in the borough arms of Penzance derives from the tin smelting mark used by the Bolithos of Gulval.[11]

The Old Inn, a public house in Gulval Churchtown, was given to the Coldstream Guards Association in memory of Capt. Michael Lempriere Bolitho and renamed "The Coldstreamer" (Capt. Bolitho was killed on HMS Walney, a Royal Navy sloop; her task was to crash through the boom at the entrance to Oran Harbour in Operation Torch on 8 November 1942).

Sergeant Richard Bolitho, born 19 January, 1920, was a gunner in World War II and was one of the famous Dambusters of No. 617 Squadron RAF which carried out the raids on the German dams. Bolitho was killed, along with the rest of the crew, when their Avro Lancaster bomber crashed on the outward journey.[12]

An independent school at Polwithen House in Penzance, Bolitho School, closed in 2017. It is now the Frances Bolitho Care Home.[13]

References

  1. ^ Miller, G. M. (1971) BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names. London: Oxford UP; p. 17
  2. ^ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ISBN 978-0-319-23148-7
  3. ^ Akademi Kernewek place names - Bosleythow
  4. ^ Weatherhill, Craig (2009). A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype. ISBN 9781904808220; p. 22
  5. ^ Bolitho, T. G. G. (1928) The Origin of the Name Bolitho. Paris: Herbert Clarke
  6. ^ Cornish magazine and Devon Miscellany
  7. ^ Matthews, W. P. History of Barclays Bank.
  8. ^ Pool, P. A. S. History of Penzance, 1974.
  9. ^ Gill, Crispin (1995) Great Cornish Families: a history of the people and their houses. Tiverton: Cornwall Books ISBN 1-871060-25-7
  10. ^ Stogdon, John Hubert (1925). The Harrow School Register, 1845-1925 (4 ed.). Longmans, Green and Company. p. 519.
  11. ^ Pascoe, W. H. A Cornish Armory. Padstow: Lodenek Press; pp. 22, 137
  12. ^ Richard Bolitho, Dambuster of the Day. https://dambustersblog.com/2013/11/26/dambuster-of-the-day-no-56-richard-bolitho
  13. ^ "Bolitho School in Penzance is to close for good after it failed to attract enough pupils". CornwallLive. Retrieved 15 October 2018.


Stub icon

This article about a location in the former district of Kerrier, Cornwall is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.