Haulgh Board School, Bolton, 1926The school had been built in 1881 financed by Mr J P Thomasson, a former MP for Bolton. At the time the population of The Haulgh was expanding rapidly and both the Haulgh Board School and nearby Ridgeways Endowed School were built to meet the demand. Among Mr Thomasson’s other achievements was helping to found the Chadwick Museum and building the Folds Road gymnasium. It is estimated he donated over £30,000 - a considerable amount of money in the 1880s - to educational causes in Bolton. In 1890 he gave Mere Hall to the town which housed the borough’s first art gallery.