William Bolton

Captain Sir William Bolton (1777 – 16 December 1830) was a post-captain in the Royal Navy who served under Nelson during the French Revolutionary Wars and was married to Dame Catherine Bolton, Nelson's niece. He also served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.

Early life and family Bolton was born at Ipswich, Suffolk, sometime in 1777 before 16 December, when Nelson placed him with Captain Ralph Willett Miller on . He continued to serve under Nelson in most of the most memorable missions of this period, including on and . He continued to serve with the fleet in the Mediterranean until October 1798, when he rejoined Nelson in at Naples, then followed him into , until August 1800. On the day after Bolton's wedding, 19 May 1803, he was knighted

He was posted as Captain (known as Post-captain in those days to distinguish from other officers in command of a ship) on 10 April 1805, whereupon he successively commanded (later Basque) until May 1805, and then the . He had been nominated by Nelson to join him at the Battle of Trafalgar aboard the , but this was cancelled after Nelson's death at that battle. and then (1810–1812) on 25 June the French private ship of war Jenny and her cargo; on 13 November 1809 Basque, French national brig (later ). On Endymion in November 1810, he captured the French privateer Milan of St. Malo, with 14 guns and 80 men.

Soon after the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, he was selected to convey the Duchess of Angoulême, Marie Thérèse of France to France, whose party included Mathieu de Montmorency, later French representative at the Congress of Verona in 1822.

Life after the navy Sir William and Dame Catherine had 5 children, of whom only 3 daughters survived to adulthood.

After retirement, Sir William resumed his passion for the classics, completely mastering Greek and finding amusement and pleasure in reading Greek and Roman writers, historians, satirists and poets. He also learnt German, Spanish and Italian.