William Hulton (23 October 1787 – 30 March 1864) was an English Land tenure, magistrate and collier who lived at Over Hulton, in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The Hultons owned the estate since the late-12th century.
In 1811 he was appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire. In this capacity he ordered the arrest of 12 men, Luddites, for arson at Westhoughton Mill in Westhoughton town centre. Four of the offenders were hanged outside Lancaster Castle, including a boy aged 12. Hulton gained a reputation as being tough on crime and political dissent and in 1819 was made chairman of the Lancashire and Cheshire Magistrates, a body set up for dealing with the civil unrest endemic in the area. He was also Constable of Lancaster Castle.
In 1819 he summoned the local Yeomanry to deal with a large crowd in St Peter's Square in Manchester which had gathered to hear the political agitator Henry Hunt. The Yeomanry Cavalry with drawn, forced its way through the crowd to break up the rally and allow Hunt to be arrested. From his vantage point William Hulton perceived the unfolding events as an assault on the yeomanry, and on L'Estrange's arrival at 1:50 pm, at the head of his hussars, he ordered them into the field to disperse the crowd with the words: "Good God, Sir, don't you see they are attacking the Yeomanry; disperse the meeting!" Fifteen people died from sabre and musket wounds or trampling, with 400 to 500 injured and the event became known as the Peterloo Massacre. Hulton was vilified by the local population and was obliged to decline a Safe seat offered to him in 1820.
He died at Leamington Priors, Warwickshire on 30 March 1864, and was buried in St Mary the Virgin's Churchyard, Deane, Lancashire on 5 April 1864.
Until 1831 Hulton paid his workers with truck system that could only be redeemed in his company shop, a practice outlawed by the passing of the Truck Acts.
In 1843 Hulton paid his colliers the Wage slavery in Lancashire. He remained opposed to permitting the right to free assembly and was vehemently opposed to congregating with the object of forming a union. He established the Hulton Colliery Company in 1858.
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