Catalogue description Bolland Family Papers

Family and personal papers, many apparently collected together by Margaret Bolland [1805-1878], eldest daughter of William Bolland [1772-1839] of Townhead, Settle, including her diaries, letters received, commonplace books and sketches. Other papers comprise the personal and official correspondence of her father, William Bolland, both as a boy and in his later activities as a family man and in connection with the parish church at Giggleswick, mostly concerning the tithes. [Former ref: Box 21 MCM 197; Box 4 MCM 314, 396; Box 27; Box 50; Box 55 U; Box 60; Box 62/8; Box 103; Box 105]

North Yorkshire County Record Office: Dawson of Langcliffe (Bolland of Kettlewell) collection, ref ZDD [introduction to the catalogue with pedigree available]; also in West Yorkshire Archive Service: Leeds and Bradford Offices

The Bollands were minor landowners in the Settle/Kettlewell area, whose name can be traced at least as far back as the early 17th century. Margaret Bolland [1805-1875] was engaged to Hugh Pudsey Dawson at the time of his death. She was a keen correspondent and amateur artist. As a girl she had attended school at Adwick Hall near Doncaster. Her grandfather, Anthony Bolland [1742-1777], father of William Bolland, had married Elizabeth Dawson, aunt of Margaret's 'cousin' Jane Dawson. Anthony Bolland's father, William Bolland [d.c.1784] had been apprenticed in 1718 and became a prosperous woolstapler. He purchased the property known as Townhead in Settle in 1763 and much other property in Settle and Kettlewell. William Bolland [1772-1839], Margaret's father, lost both his parents by the time he was 6. He married Margaret Kempster in 1803 and had five daughters: Margaret, Elizabeth [baptized 1807], Mary [baptized 1809], Jane [baptized 1810] and Susanna [baptized 1812]. William Bolland's wife Margaret and daughter Mary died within weeks of each other, in early 1837. The Bollands and Dawsons were closely related: Elizabeth Hutton Dawson [and M.H.D.] clearly lived with her sister Jane and her husband (and distant cousin) Pudsey Dawson, M.P., at his house Sinnington Manor near Kirkby Moorside and in Sidmouth on the Devon coast where they spent much time (possibly due to Jane's indifferent health). It seems likely that the sisters (though not Pudsey) had some money worries. Margaret Bolland, their young cousin, was clearly a great favourite and lived with them for several long periods in both Yorkshire and Devon. During this time her family wrote frequently to her, and when she was at home at Townhead in Settle the Dawsons wrote equally frequently to her. The Dawson sisters also owned Marshfield House in Settle, which is often mentioned in the letters. The Dawsons can be traced back to the early 17th century to the two sons of Josias Dawson, from one of whom Pudsey Dawson was descended; from the other descended the Dawsons of Kettlewell. Jane Dawson married Pudsey as his second wife. Townhead, Settle, is now in use as a health centre; Sinnington Manor is a hotel.