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Matthew Boulton

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Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton
Born(1728-09-03)3 September 1728
Birmingham, England
Died17 August 1809(1809-08-17) (aged 80)
Birmingham, England
Occupationmanufacturing
Spouse(s)Mary Robinson (d.1759), Anne Robinson
ChildrenThree daughters who died in infancy, Anne Boulton, Matthew Robinson Boulton
Parent(s)Matthew Boulton, Christiana Boulton née Piers
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society, High Sheriff of Staffordshire (1794)

Matthew Boulton FRS (3 September 1728 – 17 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and the partner of engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Additionally, Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with modern equipment.

Born in 1728, Boulton was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then the younger Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, Boulton adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional seventeen years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories of all sorts.

Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Boulton, Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, and Joseph Priestley. The Society would meet each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transportation that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution and for later scientific discoveries, including the theory of evolution.

Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort, obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed, difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809.

Background

Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century, the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron.[1] Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England, and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire, speeded the transition.[1] Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in what is known as the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham.[1] With the town far from the sea coast and the great rivers, and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles.[1] Frenchman Alexander Missen wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham".[1] These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".[2]

Matthew Boulton was a descendent of families that lived in and around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield.[3] Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723, he married Christiana Piers.[4] The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles.[5] Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first son named Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.[6]

Early and family life

The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair, the younger Matthew was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham.[7] At the age of 15, he left school and by 17, he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles which proved so popular that the resultant buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.[8]

On 3 March 1749, Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, who was wealthy in her own right. The young couple lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21.[8] Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.[9]

Matthew and Mary Boulton had three daughters in the early 1750s; all died in infancy.[10] Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759.[10] Not long after Mary's death, Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted at common law. The union was also opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. Nonetheless, Matthew and Anne Boulton married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe.[11] Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was likely bribed.[12] Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his own late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."[13]

The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton.[14] In 1764, Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.[15]

Innovator

Expansion of the business

After the death of his father in 1759, Matthew Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales that the future King George III ordered one for himself.[16]

With capital accumulated from his two marriages, and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761, he leased 13 acres (5.3 ha) at Soho, then just inside Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House and a rolling mill.[17] Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766, Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife would die there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783[18] and her husband after a long illness in 1809.[17]

The Soho Manufactory

The 13 acres at Soho included common land which Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it.[19] By 1765, his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front, had nineteen bays for loading and unloading, and contained quarters for clerks and managers on the upper stories. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers.[20] Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel.[21] Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000[21] (about £276,000 today);[22] the final cost was five times that amount.[21] The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises.[23] The parthers' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.[21]

Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate, for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so.[24] To make items, such as candlesticks, cheaper than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together.[24] One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying; however, silver plate had to be sent over 70 miles (110 km) to the nearest assay office at Chester to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively, they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors.[25] Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham."[26] Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices both in Birmingham and in Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares.[27] The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver.[28] The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate; however, Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.[29]

As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he began to sell items decorated with ormolu, previously a French specialty. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration.[30] In the late 1760s and early 1770s, there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations, and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases.[31] Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works, and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.[31] Fothergill and others searched through Europe for designs for these creations.[32] In March 1770, Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife.[33] He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful, with many works left unsold or sold below cost.[34] When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, but disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia[35]—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well.[36] Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death, there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".[37]

Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques and cameo brooches in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's company remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam.[38] Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately cooperating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."[38]

In the 1770s, Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness.[39] The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory.[40] The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.[41]

Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton,[42] he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure.[43] Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" which they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials, the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for sashes at Soho House.[44] Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply; however, this did not prove the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."[45]

Partnership with Watt

Further information: [[:Watt steam engine]]
Boulton & Watt beam engine, now on display at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, London

Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power.[46] He began to correspond with James Watt in 1766, and first met with him two years later. In 1769, Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.[47]

After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning instead to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner, Fothergill, refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share.[47] However, Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention.[48] At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water.[49] Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.[50]

Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down.[51] In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year.[52] By 1775, six of the fourteen years of Watt's original patent had elapsed,[49] but thanks to Boulton's lobbying, Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800.[47] Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother in law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.[52]

John Wilkinson, as depicted on a 1793 halfpenny token struck by Boulton's Soho Mint

In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership.[53] Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself; rather, it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers (at the purchaser's expense) and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years.[54] This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fueled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction.[54] Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.[55]

The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. The southwestern county was mineral-rich, and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal (which had to be imported from Wales), forced Watt,[56] and later Boulton, to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners.[57] In 1779, the firm hired engineer William Murdoch,[58] who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.[54]

The pumping engine, for use in mines, was a great success. In 1782, the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine would have a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales, Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought, suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field."[59] Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year.[60] One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after.[61] George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine.[62] As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London.[62] While the mill was not financially successful,[63] according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation.[62] Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.[64]

Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. The firm did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time.[65] Still, Boulton was able to boast to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER."[66] The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed,[67] and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.[68]

Involvement with coinage

Boulton 1790 Anglesey halfpenny; the first coin both struck by steam power and struck in a collar to assure roundness

By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation.[69] Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine.[70] Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes.[70] The Royal Mint would strike no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821.[71] The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces.[72] On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.[69]

Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid 1780s; they were, after all, just another small metal product like those he manufactured.[69] He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere.[73] However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners."[74] In 1788, he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The new mint included eight steam-driven presses, each could strike between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a license to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in the subcontinent.[69]

The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to Lord Hawkesbury (later to become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:

In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.[73]

Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint".[75] He wrote his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:

It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground[76] of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.[77]

Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely.[78] Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere.[69] The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint[79]—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished".[69] The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing, and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while simultaneously lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.[69]

Boulton-produced 1797 "cartwheel" twopence piece

The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month.[79] According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ...which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies".[80] The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value.[80] Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse, or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match.[69] The twopence coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; seventeen pennies lined up would reach two feet.[69] The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpenny and farthing pieces; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot; the farthing twelve to a foot.[69] The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopence and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations.[81] The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.[82]

The cartwheel twopence was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased.[70] Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs.[79][83]

Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's 1809 death, stated:

In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.[73]

Activities and views

Scientific studies and the Lunar Society

Main article: Lunar Society

Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:

Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.[84]

Moonstones monument to Matthew Boulton, one of eight dedicated to members of the Lunar Society, Birmingham

From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit".[85] He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain".[85] His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts, such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society.[86] In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends.[87] Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses), he obtained it from Boulton.[88]

Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called).[87] He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink.[89] However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."[90]

The Birmingham-area enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood, and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. Over the course of years, this evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time.[84] The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr. William Small in 1775, who had informally coordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing.[91] They would meet on Sundays, beginning with dinner at two p.m., and continuing with discussions until at least eight.[91]

While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768, Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and Banks took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776, Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton, who generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, acknowledged the order, but warned the captain that its completion might take years. In June 1776, Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of Cook's instrument.[92]

In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him.[93] Keir was a long time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.[94]

In 1785, both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single negative vote was cast against him.[2]

Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting",[91] as members died or moved away, they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved, and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain.[84] Historian Jenny Uglow, though, wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:

The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.[84]

Other activities

St Paul's Church, Birmingham, where Boulton was a parishioner

Boulton was widely involved in civic activies in Birmingham. Boulton's friend, Dr. John Ash, had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century.[95] The hospital opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained.[95] A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institutition are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency."[96] The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.[96]

Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre in the town encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise.[95] Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognized as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807.[97] He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and colloborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, itself a center of musical excellence.[95] When performances of the Messiah were organized at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."[98]

Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes."[99] In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794, he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, the county where his residence was located.[95]

Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realized that an independent America might be a threat to British trade, and in 1775 organized a petition urging the government to take a hard line with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies.[100] He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government.[101] When war broke out with France, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.[102]

Family and later life, death, and memorials

Matthew Boulton monument by John Flaxman

When Matthew Boulton was widowed in 1783, he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he finally joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg which prevented her from enjoying a full life.[103] Despite his lengthy absences on business, Matthew Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,

Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.[104]

With the expiry of the patent in 1800, both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his only son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho.[105] In retirement, Matthew Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery.[106] His continued activity distressed his former partner Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".[107]

Boulton also helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins, on the side showing the Spanish king, with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting.[108] This attempt led to the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass."[108] Boulton, though, obliterated the old design entirely in his restriking. These coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn.[109] He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, as well as a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland.[109] Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,[110] which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company.[79] He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."[110]

By early 1809, he was seriously ill.[105] Boulton had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain.[111] He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809.[105] He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham, though the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman.[112] It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.[112]

Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum,[113] as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill.[114] The Soho archives are located at the Birmingham City Archives.[39] He is recognised by three blue plaques, at Steelhouse Lane, Soho House and Sarehole Mill.[115] A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands outside the old Register Office on Broad Street in central Birmingham.[116] Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957.[117] The two-hundredth anniversary of Boulton's death, in 2009, is resulting in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council is promoting "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".[118] On 29 May 2009, the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note.[119] In March 2009, he was also honoured with the issuance of a British postage stamp.[120]

Notes

Boulton, Watt and Murdoch statue in Central Birmingham
  1. ^ a b c d e Uglow 1992, pp. 18–19.
  2. ^ a b Mason 2009, p. 2.
  3. ^ Mason 2009, p. unnumbered, two pages before page 1.
  4. ^ Mason 2009, p. 1. Uglow gives the wedding date as 1724
  5. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 21.
  6. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 16.
  7. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 23.
  8. ^ a b Uglow 2002, p. 25.
  9. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 57.
  10. ^ a b Uglow 2002, p. 60.
  11. ^ Uglow 2002, pp. 61–63.
  12. ^ Delieb 1971, p. 19.
  13. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 63.
  14. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 174.
  15. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 67.
  16. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 61.
  17. ^ a b Mason 2009, p. 15.
  18. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 368.
  19. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 66.
  20. ^ Mason 2009, p. 23.
  21. ^ a b c d Uglow 2002, pp. 68–69.
  22. ^ Purchasing Power of British Pounds 1264-2008, Measuringworth, retrieved 2009-06-22 (RPI equivalents)
  23. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 169.
  24. ^ a b Mason 2009, p. 41.
  25. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 202.
  26. ^ Mason 2009, p. 47.
  27. ^ Mason 2009, pp. 49–51.
  28. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 170.
  29. ^ Mason 2009, pp. 45–46.
  30. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 194.
  31. ^ a b Mason 2009, pp. 58–59.
  32. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 172.
  33. ^ Mason 2009, p. 59.
  34. ^ Mason 2009, p. 61.
  35. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 201.
  36. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 174.
  37. ^ Mason 2009, p. 62.
  38. ^ a b Matthew Boulton (1728–1809), Wedgwood Museum, retrieved 2009-06-30
  39. ^ a b The Boulton legacy, Birmingham City Council, retrieved 2009-06-22
  40. ^ Smiles 1865, pp. 480–81.
  41. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 178.
  42. ^ Some sources spell the last name, "Egginton".
  43. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 292.
  44. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 291.
  45. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 179.
  46. ^ Mason 2009, p. 65.
  47. ^ a b c Mason 2009, p. 63.
  48. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 246.
  49. ^ a b Smiles 1865, p. 205.
  50. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 248.
  51. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 251.
  52. ^ a b Uglow 2002, pp. 252–53.
  53. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 255.
  54. ^ a b c Mason 2009, pp. 65–66.
  55. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 294.
  56. ^ Uglow 2002, pp. 283–86.
  57. ^ Uglow 2002, pp. 292–94.
  58. ^ Spelled "Murdock" in Mason, but more commonly spelled Murdoch.
  59. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 318.
  60. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 325.
  61. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 327.
  62. ^ a b c Uglow 2002, p. 376.
  63. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 358.
  64. ^ Smiles 1865, pp. 358–59.
  65. ^ Mason 2009, p. 69.
  66. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 257.
  67. ^ Mantoux, Paul (2006 (reprint of 1928 edition)), The Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, Taylor & Francis, p. 337, ISBN 0415378397 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  68. ^ Mokyr, Joel (1999), The British Industrial Revolution, Westview Press, p. 185, ISBN 081333389X
  69. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodgers, Kerry (May 2009), "Boulton father of mechanized press", World Coin News, pp. 1, 56–58
  70. ^ a b c Lobel 1999, p. 575.
  71. ^ Mason 2009, p. 80.
  72. ^ Mayhew, Nicholas (1999), Sterling: The Rise and Fall of a Currency, The Penguin Group, pp. 104–05, ISBN 0713992581
  73. ^ a b c Smiles 1865, p. 399.
  74. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 179.
  75. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 392.
  76. ^ More accurately, the field.
  77. ^ Delieb 1971, p. 112.
  78. ^ Mason 2009, p. 93.
  79. ^ a b c d Mason 2009, p. 94.
  80. ^ a b "By the King: A proclamation", The London Gazette, July 29, 1797, retrieved 2009-06-16
  81. ^ Mason 2009, p. 215.
  82. ^ Lobel 1999, p. 583.
  83. ^ Lobel 1999, p. 597.
  84. ^ a b c d Mason 2009, p. 7.
  85. ^ a b Uglow 2002, p. 15.
  86. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 58.
  87. ^ a b Uglow 2002, p. 59.
  88. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 78.
  89. ^ Mason 2009, pp. 7–8.
  90. ^ Mason 2009, p. 8.
  91. ^ a b c Mason 2009, p. 9.
  92. ^ Delieb 1971, p. 27.
  93. ^ Uglow 2002, pp. 194–96.
  94. ^ Uglow 2002, pp. 291–92.
  95. ^ a b c d e Mason 2009, p. 191.
  96. ^ a b Mason 2009, p. 192.
  97. ^ Mason 2009, p. 195.
  98. ^ Delieb 1971, pp. 23–24.
  99. ^ Mason 2009, p. 197.
  100. ^ Mason 2009, p. 198.
  101. ^ Mason 2009, p. 201.
  102. ^ Mason 2009, p. 202.
  103. ^ Delieb 1971, pp. 19–23.
  104. ^ Delieb 1971, p. 24.
  105. ^ a b c Uglow 2002, p. 495.
  106. ^ Uglow 2002, p. 475.
  107. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 474.
  108. ^ a b Walden, Timothy (2002), The Spanish Treasure Fleets, Pineapple Press Inc., p. 195, ISBN 1561642614, retrieved 2009-06-23
  109. ^ a b Mason 2009, p. 95.
  110. ^ a b Mason 2009, p. 98.
  111. ^ Smiles 1865, p. 476.
  112. ^ a b Noszlopy, George; Beach, Jeremy (1998), Public Sculpture of Birmingham, Liverpool University Press, p. 67–68, ISBN 0853236828, retrieved 2009-06-23
  113. ^ Soho House, Birmingham City Council, retrieved 2009-06-22
  114. ^ Sarehole Mill, Birmingham City Council, retrieved 2009-06-22
  115. ^ Birmingham Civic Society: Blue Plaques, Birmingham Civic Society, retrieved 2009-06-22
  116. ^ Boulton, Watt, and Murdoch, Birmingham City Council, retrieved 2009-06-22
  117. ^ Our History, Matthew Boulton College, retrieved 2009-06-22
  118. ^ Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009, Birmingham City Council, retrieved 2009-06-22
  119. ^ Steam giants on new £50 banknote, BBC, 2009-05-30, retrieved 2009-06-22
  120. ^ Pioneers of the Industrial Revolution, Royal Mail, retrieved 2009-06-22

References

  • Delieb, Eric (1971), Matthew Boulton: Master Silversmith, November Books Ltd.
  • Lobel, Richard (1999), Coincraft's 2000 Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, Standard Catalogue Publishers Ltd., ISBN 0952622882
  • Mason, Shena (2009), Matthew Boulton: Selling What All the World Desires, Yale University Press, ISBN 0300143583
  • Smiles, Samuel (1865), Lives of Boulton and Watt, London: John Murray
  • Uglow, Jenny (2002), The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World, London: Faber & Faber, ISBN 0374194408

Further reading

  • Goodison, Nicholas (1999), Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London: Christie's Books, ISBN 9780903432702
  • Roll, Erich (1930), An Early Experiment in Industrial Organisation: Being a History of the Firm of Boulton & Watt, 1775–1805, London: Longmans and Green {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Schofield, Robert E. (1963), The Lunar Society of Birmingham: A Social History of Provincial Science and Industry in Eighteenth-Century England, Oxford: Clarendon Press


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