Lucas Bols to a stream. By 1612 the city's walls had expanded to encompass the distillery, and the stream was dug out into a canal called the because of rose nurseries in the area. Around the same time, a new stone building was constructed to house the distillery. The first official mention is in 1640 in Amsterdam town papers, where "Pieter Jacobszoon Bols" is documented as operator of "t Lootsje" on the "Rozengracht". Lucas Bols was born in 1652. His era corresponded with the Dutch golden age, when the Netherlands were a colonial power, and led the world in international commerce. The
Eric Bols Bols was finally offered the command of the 6th Airborne Division in 1944, he had not previously commanded a military formation as large as a division. Bols took command shortly before Christmas of 1944, superseding the previous General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Richard Gale, who had raised the division and commanded it during Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy. He was granted the acting rank of major general from 6 December 1944. When he took command the division, comprising James Hill's 3rd and Nigel Poett's 5th Parachute Brigades and Edwin Flavell's 6th Airlanding Brigades along with supporting