File:Kay Woollard - Peter's Dwarves.jpg

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IN MEMORIAM: PETER BOLTON

Peter Bolton was a good friend and a member of our local Tolkien group, Amon Sûl Smial, in Halifax since about 1984. He used to travel significant distances to attend meetings, from Sheffield, Hull and Salford. He joined the Tolkien Society when I became Mallorn Editor in 1986.

Of Danish extraction, he belonged to a rare uninterrupted line of people who held to the ancient Norse faith and it gave him a unique perspective.

We used to play boardgames together sometimes with other smial members, Kingmaker, Samurai, Civilization. The latter would often last a whole weekend, including bank holidays!

Peter naturally had a deep affinity with Dwarves, hence the substantial number of drawings of them by Kay Woollard that he displayed on his walls. Their birthdays in early July were quite close and we usually celebrated them together.

Peter never recovered from an attack he had suffered in a Manchester street at night in the late 1990s. He received a severe head wound and could never work again. It affected him not only physically, but also mentally. Already quite dour by nature, he became really grim after that. As another consequence of what had happened to him, he related to the world differently afterwards and held some radical opinions, but we loved him all the same.

I believe that the event of his attack caused him Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, hence his agoraphobia. After his attack, Peter took to drinking quite heavily. I remember him downing all by himself a bottle of wine which he had brought to a smial meeting, which he would never have done before. In his later days, as his kidneys had been affected, he had stopped drinking and kept to tea.

I organised to see The Hobbit (film 1) Premiere together with him in Salford, where he lived. Although he was quite disgusted with the liberties taken at the story, he actually enjoyed it. He was quite an opinionated so and so. ;-)

Peter's pride and joy were his dogs, which he brought with him to our meetings when he could. As he developed agoraphobia in later years, it became quite difficult for him to travel by public transport, especially with a large Rottweiler, even though muzzled. When I had a car available, I would sometimes drive him back.

Although naturally grim, Peter brightened up whenever talking about Tolkien. He wrote several poems (about Dwarves of course) and a story, but I don’t have copies of them.

Peter died in unknown circumstances in 2017. After his death, his collection of Dwarf paintings disappeared and I have no knowledge of their whereabouts. I asked his inheritor, his brother, if we could buy them off him, but never received a reply.

If you wish to add your personal tribute to Peter, send them to me and I will add them.

Catherine Thorn says:
"I am so sorry to hear of Peter's passing. I have a host of very fond memories of him; he was a true individual, but also a gentle soul with a kind heart and a wicked sense of humour."

Peter Buchs of Walking Tree Books says:
"Dear Peter, long time you are gone from us, and you're sorely missed as a fellow-dwarf and Tolkien-enthusiast."

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