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INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY

Series One: The Boulton & Watt Archive and the Matthew Boulton Papers

from Birmingham Central Library

Part 4: Matthew Boulton Correspondence (Subject Material: Albion Mill - Steam Engines)

Part 5: Engineering Drawings - Crank, Canal, Dock and Harbour, Mint, Blowing, Pumping and Other

            Engines, c.1775-1800

Publisher's Note - Part 4

This part includes subject material for the period c.1760- 1840 on:

  • Albion Mill
  • Birmingham Commercial Committee and the Chamber of Manufacturers
  • Boulton and Watt’s industrial companies and business empire, including Early Accounts and Agreements
  • Canals
  • Copper
  • Contest and Cornish Miners
  • Iron Trade
  • Soho House
  • The Soho Foundry and Manufactory
  • Steam Engines, different types, designs, new improvements and methods of use
  • Steam Engines; Agents employed between 1819 and 1839


In contrast with the previous parts Part 4 elucidates the business history of the Boulton enterprises, showing how ideas and inventions were implemented. It shows how Boulton used his capital to build up a diverse portfolio of companies.


Files on the Plate Company for the period 1796-1848; Buttons gilted and plated, 1795-1808; Silk Reels East Indies Company, 1779- 1785; Early Accounts, 1751-1779; Rose Copper Company, 1793-1821; and the Trade Accounts of Boulton, Watt and Co for 1794-1842 enable the researcher to study some of these companies in detail.


A box of biographical material contains lots of useful material covering the contest with Cornish Miners [see also the relevant subject file on this]; the appointment of Matthew Boulton as an Overseer of the Poor in Handsworth [see also the relevant file on Shrievalty, the Soho volunteers and the Harborne Poor Rates ]; Lists of Books in Matthew Boulton’s handwriting; a plan of a journey from Birmingham to London by Canal Boat in 1805; His Will; Epitaphs, Funeral Arrangements and Invitations; Biographical Notes by James Watt, James Keir and others; Medals and prints; a Balance of the Books (December 1809); an article about Matthew Boulton in the European Magazine and London Review (September 1809) and other newspaper articles and illustrative documentation.


The files on Birmingham reveal a great deal of detail about Boulton’s social life and philanthropic activity. There is material on the Birmingham Society of Arts, the Theatre, the Birmingham Workhouse, the General Hospital, the Dispensary, the Police, the Overseers of the Poor, the Philosophical Society, along with Minutes of Birmingham Town Meetings (1790-1797). There is also documentation here on his interests in the Birmingham Mining and Copper Company, Birmingham Canal Navigations, more on the Birmingham Copper Trade, Birmingham Flour and Bread Company, Birmingham Metal Company, as well as significant material on the Birmingham Riots.


Boulton played an active part on the Birmingham Commercial Committee and in its review of the Copper and Brass Trades. He was also heavily involved with the General Chamber of Manufacturers of Great Britain. Matthew Boulton took over as Chairman of the Birmingham Committee from Samuel Garbett in 1790. Minutes, Notes on Proceedings, a full list of members of the Committees, and important papers on the state of the Copper Trade, the Protection of manufacturing interests through concerned action, and pricing policy are covered in the subject files on the Birmingham Commercial Committee, the General Chamber of Manufacturers of Great Britain chaired by Josiah Wedgwood, Copper, Contest with Cornish Miners, Cornish Metal Company, Irish Propositions, Iron Trade, and Russia: Prohibitions, 1793 reproduced here in full.


Also this material amply demonstrates the links and co-operation between men of science, merchants, manufacturers and entrepreneurs collaborating to have a concerted voice on all matters concerning prices, internal and external trade, standards, trading restrictions, patents and petitions.


Another series of boxes provide substantial evidence about the Soho Manufactory and the Soho Foundry, including the Boulton and Watt Engine Manufactory. Highlights include a Table of Prices of Engines (1795); papers on Experiments on the Forging of Iron at Soho Foundry; Forging at Smethwick Technical details on Boilers and Valves; details on the buildings comprising the Soho Manufactory; an envelope containing Particulars of the Houses and Workshops and Mills of Soho along with Dimensions of Soho Shops and Buildings dated 1789-1790, and eleven portfolios of drawings.


Other material and drawings cover Soho House and Garden; Canals, especially the Birmingham Canal, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the London and Western Canal, the Dudley Canal, the Bill for improving the Birmingham Canal and the proposed cut from this canal through to Soho and the diversion of the Soho mill stream; and also an important file (described below) on Albion Mill.


There are 86 items concerning the Albion Mill. This corn mill was erected by Boulton and his partners in the City of London at the foot of Blackfriars Bridge in 1786. (See Engineering Drawings for Albion Mill reproduced in Part 3 of this project). Here we have papers and correspondence highlighting the importance of the biggest and best equipped mill of the period. The work of construction and erecting the engine was supervised by John Rennie. The first trial of the machinery was made before a great crowd of spectators, including Sir Joseph Banks. There were problems with the sun and planet gear, which had been made by Wilkinson, and other parts of the working gear were defective. These affairs are well documented and appear to have greatly troubled Boulton who was in London for much of this time. He seems to have spent considerable time and effort overcoming the initial difficulties. There were added problems with the piston rod of the engine. By April 1786 repairs had been made and the mill was again tested for engine performance. In ten hours 48 buckets of coal were consumed and 527 buckets of wheat ground into flour.


By the beginning of 1789 the second engine with its set of mill stones had been laid down. By 1790 the output of the mill was very considerable for the period. The sales of flour in a week in June 1790 amounted to £6,800, but Boulton was still not satisfied with the state of affairs in respect of finance and organisation (see Boulton to Watt letter of January 10, 1791).


However, his concern on this account was terminated soon after by an even greater calamity. The Albion Mill was destroyed by fire on March 2, 1791. There were strong suspicions of foul play and Boulton called for a thorough investigation by the Government as a matter of national importance. On the other hand, Rennie and Wyatt, the manager of the Mill, thought that the fire was caused by accident due to a lack of grease of the large corn machine in front of the kiln. Was this negligence?


In many quarters there was great rejoicing, especially amongst the mob, rival millers and mealmen discontented by the virtual monopoly of the London flour trade by the Albion Mill Company. The Mill was not rebuilt, but it was sometime before the affairs of the Company were wound up. As late as 1800 the erection of a new engine and mill was still under discussion. The material on the Albion Mill made available here enables the researcher to look in detail at this enterprise and controversy which captivated the attention of so many people at the time.


All the documents brought together in Part 4 demonstrate how Boulton achieved a pivotal position amongst entrepreneurs through a shrewd use of capital, patronage and advice, coupled with the success of the Boulton and Watt Engine business. The strength of the Boulton and Watt archive is that it brings together a rich mixture of papers concerning the development of science and technology, business records and the personal archive of one of Britain’s greatest entrepreneurs. This part emphasises the entrepreneurial dexterity of Matthew Boulton through the complete range of his subject files.

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