Six of the 9 children of my 3rd G-grandparents, Benjamin Dawson Boulton (~1811-1845) and Jane Cross (1809-1871), had middle names that I think may have been significant:
- Henry Littlejohn Boulton (1832-1898), my 2nd G-grandfather;
- Jane Catherine Dawson Boulton (1835-1899);
- Benjamin Dawson Boulton (1838-1839);
- John Dawson Boulton (1839-1879);
- Charles Napier Boulton (1841-1914);
- William Napier Boulton (1845-1870).
Dawson was the maiden name of their paternal grandmother (Benjamin Boulton, Sr’s mother, Sarah Dawson [1777-1859]), but I have no idea where the middle names of Littlejohn and Napier originated from.
Littlejohn appears again as in John Dawson Boulton’s grandson, Leonard Littlejohn Boulton (1904-1963) and Napier as William Napier Boulton’s son, Charles Napier Boulton (1869-1951) and as George Napier Boulton (1890-1974), who was Benjamin Littlejohn Boulton’s grandson. Benjamin Littlejohn Boulton also had a son named Charles N. Boulton (1868-1932), so there is the potential that Napier was his middle name too.
Many other branches of the Boulton family used maiden names as future middle names (e.g., Hellam, Cornwall, Hesketh), so my suspicion is that Littlejohn and Napier may be maiden names of other branches I don’t know anything about. Benjamin Dawson Boulton was born and brought up in Whitchurch, Shropshire and several of his siblings remained there (with variable name spellings of Bolton and Boulton). Benjamin Dawson Boulton and Jane Cross raised their family in Liverpool. Although Henry Littlejohn Boulton was brought up in Liverpool, after his marriage to Alice Cornwall Hellam, they moved to Newport and Chepstow, Monmouthshire (where most of their children were born) and Gloucester, although they subsequently moved back to Liverpool.
I’ve found a Napier R Boulton (~1887-1960, born Wiltshire and brought up in Pontypridd, son of Robert Boulton, born Gloucester), a Montague Napier M Boulton (born 1901 Monmouthshire, who emigrated to Canada and then the US with his Aunt and Uncle), and a Francis Napier Boulton (1919-1984, who lived in Victoria, Australia and was the son of William Charles Boulton), but haven’t found any links between them and “my” Boultons.
Question: Does anyone have any ideas about the origin of the middle names of Napier and Littlejohn associated with the Boulton family?
Additional Information: Skinny Branches.
Additional Information: Skinny Branches.
