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An imposing portrait of the confident Dobson who helped shape the development of Victorian Bolton. The likeness, compared to portraits, is good.... His face with a waxed moustache.... In his xxx hand he holds a monocle... It is one of Cassidy’s strongest full-length statues

A public meeting called by the Mayor (Alderman Nicholson) was called on 31 March, a few weeks after Dobson's death, to consider a memorial in recognition of his services to the borough . A resolution in favour of a statue in Victoria Square was passed and a committee made up of council members was appointed which was to work with another committee appointed at a later public meeting. The second committee included local MPs, prominent Councillors as well as representatives of the Technical Schools movement and delegates from the Bolton Co-operative Society, Bolton Teachers, Trades Council, Arts Guild and School Board. A subscription list was opened which was "liberally" supported. Estimates were then sought from both Cassidy and Hamo Thornycroft as well as three others, the commission finally going to Cassidy.(3)

Sir Benjamin Alfred Dobson (1847-1898), textile machinery manufacturer and three times mayor of Bolton. He was born at Douglas on the Isle of Man, the son of a Belfast engineer. He was educated at Carlisle Grammar School and the Collegiate Institute in Belfast, where he studied engineering. He then joined the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway as an engineer before moving in 1871 to Bolton where he joined the family firm, Dobson and Barlow. He more than doubled the size of the firm, and by 1898 employed a workforce of over 5,000. Although the Bolton Review of 1897 declared that Dobson was "beloved" by his workpeople "for his geniality and considerate regard for their welfare," he resisted their attempts to challenge his authority. During a strike in 1887 he brought in new workers to defeat the strikers, and in 1897 strongly resisted the demands of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.(1) In spite of this attitude, in 1890 his workers nevertheless presented him with illuminated addresses of congratulation, a silver punch bowl and a diamond bracelet for his wife Coralie. By 1897, the Bolton Review judged that Dobson, as a businessman, probably had "no superior in Bolton." In October 1878 he was made awarded the Legion D'honneur by the French government in recognition of his services to French industry. In 1874 he went into politics, being returned as Conservative Councillor, being re-elected in 1877. During this time he was chairman of the parks, and technical instruction committees. In November 1894 he was elected Mayor for the first time. Dobson was one of the moving spirits behind the transformation of the Mechanics' Institution into the Technical School, opened in 1892. Dobson was almost archetypically Victorian in its devotion to public life. He took an active interest in all civic affairs, holding, among other posts, Chairman of the Bolton Ironfounders Association, President of the Bolton Chamber of Commerce, Justice of the Peace for the district and the county, member of the board of Governors of Bolton Grammar School, honorary vice-president of the bolton Church of England Educational Institution, Churchwarden at St. James's, and Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. In addition, he published many technical papers on aspects of cotton spinning and engineering. He was also known in Bolton for throwing lavish mayoral parties at the Town Hall and at his private residence "Doffcockers."(2) He was knighted in 1897 and died on 4 March 1898, leaving a substantial estate.

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