Andy Basic
New Member
Gilbert Bolden was a leading activist in the wonderfully named Alleged Lunatics Friends Society (see Wikipedia) who campaigned for the rights of people who were claimed to have mental health issues, which usually meant that they lost all rights to control their future. Most of their work was centred in London but the society wound down in the 1860s and the Bolden family moved to Birmingham, living in Spring Street (1867-c1877) and 12 Speedwell Rd, Edgbaston (c1879-1884+). The move was possibly related to his work in ALFS in a slightly sensational way. In the 1850s he successfully campaigned with Ann, the wife of William Wilmshurst, for the release of William from Fisherton House Mental Hospital, Salisbury. Within a few months of release, William was arrested for attempting to defraud a bank and sent to prison. After this Gilbert Bolden and Ann Wilmshurst lived together in west London, claiming to be married and having 3 children. They then married about 7 years after William Wilmshurst had been sent to prison (possibly doing it then because they thought they could twist the rule about being able to marry if a husband disappears for 7 years). However, when William Wilmshurst was released from prison he also moved to west London, though 3 miles from Gilbert and Ann. It was about this time that the Boldens moved to Birmingham so the suspicion is that they were worried that their illegal marriage would be discovered. William Wilmshurst died in 1879 and the Boldens returned to London sometime between 1884 and 1889 - whether they knew of William's death is impossible to know.
