Matthew Boulton, Richard Chippindall; William Cheshire. 1782 - 1804

The contents of this file were originally in two separate files, one for Chippindall and one for Cheshire. Neither is mentioned in William D. Brown’s Catalogue of 1791; the file in Cheshire’s name had, of course, not been opened at that date, but the reason why Chippindall’s file is not mentioned is not apparent. Later the two Under M. R. Boulton’s scheme of arrangement, the two files were brought together in one portfolio, entitled:
R. Chippindale W. Cheshire 1782 to 1804
(This is the title recorded in the Inventory compiled by the Assay Office in 1921, but unfortunately the portfolio was subsequently discarded.) Under M. R. Boulton’s scheme of arrangement the file was placed in Box I. i.
The contents are now arranged in three chronological sequences, as follows:
Richard Chippindall. (1-147)
William Cheshire. (148-228)
Three letters from Richard Chippindall, and two from William
Cheshire, apparently misfiled. (229-233)
229-231 are dated in 1805 or 1807, and must therefore have been transferred from elsewhere, since, according to the file’s title, its contents should not continue beyond the year 1804. But it is not clear where they may belong, if not here, and they have therefore been retained in this file. 232 and 233 were certainly added to this file after the Assay Office compiled their typescript list, but again it is hard to imagine where they may have come from.
In 1808 Chippindall returned to M. R. Boulton two letters written to him by Matthew Boulton in 1802; these will be found among M. R. Boulton’s correspondence.
In the following List, the copies are all press-copies, except where otherwise stated.