Victoria Coyle has always had a passion for history, which led her to complete a BA Hons degree in History and English in 1996. A successful teaching career followed, and Victoria began researching genealogy and family history as a hobby. Victoria then embarked in 2015 upon the Genealogical, Paleographical and Heraldic Studies course with the University of Strathclyde, completing her Masters in 2018. She is a member of the Register of Qualified Genealogists, the Guild of One-Name Studies and undertakes genealogy work for clients. Her masters’ dissertation was a genealogical, socio-economic study of the Cotton Famine in Bolton and this is the basis for her talk.

Some of the points discussed include:

How badly affected was Bolton as a whole?

Which townships of Bolton suffered the most and were only cotton workers affected?

What were views at the time?