Correspondence and Papers

MS 3147/3

Correspondence and Papers

1774 - 1895

Principals’ and Partners’ Correspondence
These bundles contain letters concerning the engine business written by Matthew Boulton, James Watt and their sons Matthew Robinson Boulton, James Watt Jr. and Gregory Watt. The letters were either written to members of the firm who were at Soho when the writer was away on business, most frequently in London, or they were written from Soho to a member of the firm who was absent for a protracted period. Thus there are many letters sent to Matthew Boulton, James Watt and Matthew Robinson Boulton during their various stays in Cornwall, for example. Letters received while a member of the firm was away were deposited with the rest of the firm’s records on their return to Soho. The recipient usually docketed the letters with the writer’s name and the date of writing, and sometimes a summary. Often summaries were made later, for example James Watt Jr. appears to have summarised a lot of his own letters of the 1790s. The standard arrangement for the correspondence was in yearly bundles by writer. Sometimes the bundles contain letters from a single writer to multiple recipients – for example the bundle of letters by Matthew Robinson Boulton for 1796 contains letters addressed to James Watt, James Watt Jr. and Matthew Boulton. This combining of letters was probably done contemporarily, to bring together a record of the firm’s proceedings and potential evidence during the patent trials of the 1790s.

Matthew Boulton, 1777-1799.
There is a large number of a letters by Matthew Boulton in the collection. The majority are addressed to James Watt, although there are some to James Watt Jr. and Matthew Robinson Boulton from the 1790s. Boulton’s correspondence was kept in yearly bundles. No correspondence has been found for the years 1793 and 1798. It is assumed that the bundles for these years are missing, as, given the time Boulton spent away from Soho in an average year, it seems extremely unlikely he wrote no letters to Watt or the younger partners in the firm in those years.

During its time in the Watt Room at Soho Foundry in the 1890s, Boulton’s correspondence suffered various disruptions. Certain letters were displayed in glass cases, while other letters were removed from their yearly bundles and placed into artificial bundles spanning several years, probably for reference by historians. The correspondence has been listed in yearly bundles which it is hoped is reasonably approximate to the orginal order. Henry Hazleton, the keeper of the Watt Room, summarised most of the letters with a reasonable degree of accuracy. He attached his summaries to the backs of the letters, and these summaries have been transcribed in the relevant List of Contentss of each bundle.

James Watt, 1777-1816.
There are far fewer original letters by James Watt in the collection, in fact there are only eight yearly bundles, one from 1777 to Matthew Boulton and seven from 1795 to 1800 containing letters to the younger members of the firm.

During its time in the Watt Room at Soho Foundry in the 1890s, Watt’s correspondence suffered various disruptions. Certain letters were displayed in glass cases, while other letters were removed from their original bundles and placed into artificial bundles spanning several years, probably for reference by researchers working on the correspondence. Where some of these letters originally came from is not known, so they have been kept together as a ‘Miscellaneous’ bundle. Henry Hazleton, the keeper of the Watt Room, summarised some of the letters with a reasonable degree of accuracy. He attached his summaries to the backs of the letters, and these summaries have been transcribed in the relevant List of Contents of each bundle.

Matthew Robinson Boulton, 1795-1809.
There are eleven bundles of letters by Matthew Robinson Boulton, mainly containing letters to James Watt Jr., and a few to Gregory Watt. These are mostly in yearly bundles, although there are two bundles which cover multiple years (1804 to 1807 and 1808 to 1809), and there is also a bundle of miscellaneous letters to John Southern, the head of the Drawing Office. These latter items had been removed from elsewhere in the collection, but it is not clear from where.

James Watt Jr., 1789-1830.
James Watt Jr.’s correspondence is the most extensive of all the partners. Watt Jr.’s letters had suffered considerable disruption during their time in the Watt Room and in the Library, but they appear to have been originally kept in two distinct series, the first containing letters to his father, brother Gregory, Matthew Boulton and Matthew Robinson Boulton, and the other containing letters to the senior engineers in the Drawing Office such as John Southern and William Creighton. This arrangement dates back at least to Henry Hazleton’s custody of the Watt Room, as several card bundle covers in his hand were found. Most of the letters to the other partners are in yearly bundles, excepting two early bundles which cover multiple years (1794 to 1795 and 1796 to 1797). However the bundles of letters to the heads of the Drawing Office are less neat. Some bundles contain multiple years, while in some years Watt Jr.’s correspondence was so voluminous that it was split into two separate bundles.

Gregory Watt, 1797-1803.
Gregory Watt died in 1804 at the age of 27. However for a few years before his premature death he was actively involved in the steam engine business, as the four bundles of letters here show. Most of Gregory’s letters are to his brother James and Matthew Robinson Boulton.

Outgoing Correspondence
Almost all of the steam engine business’s outgoing correspondence, that is to say letters written in the offices at Soho Manfactory and Soho Foundry and sent out, exists in the form of press copies pasted into letter books. The only exceptions are the ‘Letter Book’ covering 1775 to 1778, and the first Business Letter Book. James Watt invented the copy press as a means of reducing the burden of hand-copying letters and drawings. He patented it in 1780, but it was in use in the year before that. All of the office at Soho were equipped with presses, and all adopted similar practices for keeping their copies. Working the copying press required a certain skill, and some very poor copies can be found in the various volumes. The clerks at Soho Foundry in particular had a habit of letting the original dry out too much before making the copy, thus producing very faint and often illegible reproductions.

When the copies were made, they were placed in drying books while the ink dried, usually two sheets per page. The drying books were then gathered together to form a large volume, or sometimes the copies were transferred to completely new volumes. Whichever method was followed, copies of correspondence were invariably kept in chronological order. Page numbers were applied, usually one number for every two pages. Once the new large volume was ready, an index of the correspondents was made and attached, usually in the front. The volumes were bound with hard covers, but very few examples of original covers survive as the Library had most of the letter books rebound from the 1950s to the 1970s.

The only change to the practice described above came in the 1870s, when the copying paper was much stronger. Volumes were then made up of copy letters that were directly bound together. This method produced much smaller volumes.

Letter Book.
This is the first Boulton & Watt engine business letter book, and contains hand–written entries. Many of the letters are recorded only as short abstracts or memoranda of who was written to and when. Many of the entries are in the hand of J. Stuart until circa November 1776, when the majority are in Watt’s hand. There are notably fewer entries in Matthew Boulton’s hand.

Business Letter Books.
These books contain copies of letters concerning the general and day-to-day business of the engine firm: enquiries about engines; on–going orders and contracts; letters to firms making parts and suppliers of materials; letters to the firm’s engineers and engine erectors; and copies of letters written to other principal members of the firm who were away from Soho. The letters were copied by hand until April 1779, when the firm adopted the copying press invented by James Watt.

The firm referred to this series of books simply as the ‘Letter Books’. They have been titled ‘Business Letter Books’ here to distinguish them from other similar series such as the Drawing Office Letter Books. The series was discontinued in 1876, and two new series of books, the London Letter Books and the Sundry Letter Books were opened. The Foundry Manager also had his own series of letter books which may have taken over some of the functions of the Business Letter Books, but no examples of these have survived.

Further notes on the Letter Books and some of the individual volumes will be found in the list of Business Letter Books. All but two of the volumes have indexes, and the series is complete save for one volume.

London Letter Books.
These books partly took over the function of the discontinued Business Letter Books in 1876. They are made up of press copies of letters written from Soho Foundry to James Watt & Co.’s London office. The London office grew in importance throughout the 19th century, particularly when the London-based engineer James Brown became a partner and the London-based Henry Wollaston Blake and Charles Barclay joined the firm. By the 1870s most of the firm’s decision-making and liaison with customers was being carried out via the London office, with a resulting increase in the volume of letters between it and Soho Foundry. This increase of correspondence led to the opening of a series of books dedicated to copies of letters to the London office. There are many copies of telegrams. The signatories include the Foundry manager R. D. Sanders, who left in 1880, and his successor W. Henry Darlington, and foremen and clerks such as Henry Reed and William Price Jr.

These volumes are considerably smaller than the preceeding Business Letter Books, as they were made up from press copies directly bound together rather than stuck onto blank pages. All the books contain an index of customers referred to in the letters, except for the first volume, 6 January 1876-14 April 1877 (3/149), which is missing its index and its first 3 pages. None of the books have been rebound, and the last two bear contemporary numbers on their spines.

Sundry Letter Books.

These books partly took over the function of the discontinued Business Letter Books in 1876. They are made up of press copies of letters written from Soho Foundry to sub-contractors, employees travelling around the country, suppliers of raw materials and parts such as plates, boiler tubes etc. There are also letters concerning drawings, and letters advising customers that drawings have been sent. On the whole, letters about contracts and major dealings with customers are absent, as this type of business was carried out through the London office during this period. They do contain a very wide variety of correspondence, for example there is a letter to Smethwick Board of Health about the Foundry’s boundary wall (21 August 1877), and there are large numbers of letters to local firms such as Muntz’s Metal Co. and Tangye Bros. As with the London Letter Books, there are many copies of telegrams.

Most of the letters are by signed by the Foundry manager R. D. Sanders and his successor W. Henry Darlington, or managers and clerks such as Henry Reed, William Price Jr. and J. Cheatle, or simply ‘James Watt & Co.’ These books were also referred to as ‘General Letter Books’ – see a reference to a letter being placed in the ‘General Letter Book’ on 19 June 1876 in the London Letter Book 6 January 1876-14 April 1877 (3/149).

These volumes are the same size as the London Letter Books, as they too were made up from press copies directly bound together rather than stuck onto blank pages. Type-written letters appear in the final book. All the books have indexes. The series is incomplete.

Old Letters, chiefly of Mr. Boulton.
This book contains press copies of business letters, mainly by Matthew Boulton, dating from 9 June 1781 to 27 January 1782, and from 6 January 1784 to 17 April 1788. It is not clear when the copies were pasted into the book, and only one third of the book has been used, but it does have an index. The book came to the Library as part of the deposit of papers from L. B. C. L. Muirhead in 1921. It is marked on the cover ‘Letter Book Boulton & Watt 1781 – Old Letters chiefly of Mr. Boulton from 9th June 1781 to April 1788.’ The writing on the cover and the binding are the same as the other Boulton & Watt Business Letter Books that came via Muirhead (nos. 3/82 to 3/85), and the book was clearly intended as an addition to the main series of Business Letter Books.

Office Letter Book.
This is the earliest steam engine firm ‘administrative’ letter book. It predates the Drawing Office Letter Books, and only the first business Letter Book was opened before it. The book began as a record of the sending off of boxes of parts for various engines. It was first used as a letter book in September 1778. The letters concern the carriage and delivery of parts, the ordering of engine parts from other firms, bills sent, etc. It was kept in the engine firm’s offices at Soho Manufactory, and the letters were written by the firm’s clerks James Pearson and John Buchanan, and James Watt’s assistant William Playfair. There are also several letters by the firm’s engineer Logan Henderson.
The book was rebound by the Library, and marked ‘Letter Book (Manufactory)’ on the spine. The copies are hand-written until March 1780, when press copies appear. It contains a partial index of the early part of the book which records parts sent off.

Drawing Office Letter Books.
Boulton & Watt’s Drawing Office had its origins in the small group of James Watt’s assistants, who assisted him with drawing, letters and technical work in his house at Harper’s Hill and in the engine firm’s office at Soho Manufactory. In 1782 Boulton & Watt hired John Southern as a draughtsman and assistant to Watt. Southern, who was a talented engineer in his own right, remained with the firm until his death in 1815. He became the head of the Drawing Office, and many of the formal records of the Drawing Office begin in the early years of Southern’s employment, including this series of letter books. The Drawing Office gained a much greater administrative role in 1789, when Watt moved from Harper’s Hill to Heathfield, and Southern and the other draughtsmen moved into offices at Soho Manufactory.

Despite ostensibly being a subsidiary series of books, the Drawing Office Letter Books cover the entire range of Boulton & Watt’s steam engine business, and often there is little to distinguish their contents from the Business Letter Books. Nevertheless many of the letters do concern drawings and their despatch, and the codes assigned to the drawings can be cross-referred to the Drawings Day Book and thence to the portfolios of drawings. The letters were signed by Southern and his successor as head of the Drawing Office, William Creighton, and many were simply signed as ‘Boulton & Watt’ and later ‘Boulton Watt & Co.’. There are also letters by the clerks and assistants in the office such as Charles Porden and William Forman, and letters by engine erectors who assisted in the office when back at Soho, including James Lawson, Henry Creighton, William Bennett and James Brown. There are also occasional letters written by James Watt, Matthew Boulton and James Watt Jr.

Volumes 3/170 to 3/175, 3/178 and 3/179 were rebound by the Library. 3/170 was titled ‘Letter Book (Office)’ on the spine, while the others were mistitled ‘Letter Book (Foundry)’. Volumes 3/176 and 3/177 were not rebound. All the books have indexes.

Bottom Office Sundry Letter Book.
This letter book from the final years of James Watt & Co. is similar in style and content to the Sundry Letter Books. The letters are mainly to subcontractors for parts and raw materials. There are also short letters on financial matters, for example cheques sent to a Mr. Biddle in London, engine erectors’ wages etc. Some letters on the same subjects are split between this book and the final Sundry Letter Book [3/167], for example both books contain letters to the New British Iron Co. from November 1893 regarding the quality of their ingots. There are a few letters to engine erectors, but not as many as appear in the final Sundry Letter Book, and very few letters to clients. The book also contains copies of telegrams. The signatories include the Foundry manager W. Henry Darlington and his son Seymour Darlington, but most of the letters not signed.

Use of this book came to an end with the closure of James Watt & Co. in 1895, and it is only two thirds full. This is the steam engine firm’s last letter book, and the final item is a telegram from Darlington to the Trustee Flaxman Haydon, probably referring to an engine for Newark Water Works: ‘Lambert has given clean certificate.’

The book is the same size as the London Office Letter Books and Sundry Letter Books, as it too was made up from press copies directly bound together rather than stuck onto blank pages. Type-written letters appear from around October 1893. The volume has an index.

Engine Yard Foreman’s Letter Book, Soho Manufactory.
This book contains letters written by William Buckle, the foreman of Boulton Watt & Co.’s yard at Soho Manufactory, and his assistant, John Brewer. The letters are to subcontractors, or to clients concerning the dispatch of parts. There are also several notes to Soho Foundry ordering parts for engines. The originals of these notes will be found in the ‘Soho Orders’ Order Books (Production Records, 4/132 to 4/134). There are also occasional letters by clerks and other staff such as William Lloyd and William S. Garland, but these concern matters in Buckle’s office.

Buckle became foreman of the engine yard in 1827, so presumably earlier letter books existed. However only half of this book has been used, so it appears that the series was discontinued. The book has an index.

Chief Cashier’s Letter Books.
The Chief Cashier and Bookkeeper was responsible for the day-to-day organisation of the steam engine firm’s finances. He kept the firm’s accounts, and corresponded with banks, customers and suppliers about money owed to or by the firm. The books contain several summaries of accounts. They also contain copies of receipt letters written by the Chief Cashier to acknowledge payments from customers. From 1814 these letters are numbered, the numbers matching the order numbers on the left hand side of the pages of the Engine Day Books (Accounting and Financial Records, 1/34 to 1/42). The letters were signed by the Chief Cashier James Pearson, and his successors William Burdon and Charles James Chubb, or simply ‘Boulton Watt & Co.’ Sometimes the letter books were referred to by the name of the Chief Cashier, for example ‘Mr. Burdon’s Letter Book.’

Volumes 3/182 to 3/184 and 3/186 to 3/188 were rebound by the Library. The first three have been labelled ‘Cashier’s Letters’ on the spine, while the latter three have been mis-titled ‘Letter Book (Firm).’ Volumes 3/185 and 3/189 have not been rebound. The first Chief Cashier was James Pearson, who began keeping Boulton & Watt’s books in 1777, so presumably there were earlier volumes which are now lost, and the series also presumably continued. All the books are have indexes except for volume 3/183.

Clerks’ Letter Books, Soho Manufactory.
These books contain copies of letters written by the Head Clerk and his staff of clerks in the ‘Engine Counting House’ at Soho Manufactory. The clerks were responsible for day-to-day administration and petty financial matters, so the letters concern the dispatch of materials to customers, supply of stores, payment of carrying companies, petty cash payments to employees, and so on. The first book also contains a significicant amount of correspondence concerning sales of the pneumatic apparatus developed by James Watt, and a few letters concerning copying presses. Volumes 3/193 and 3/194 also contain copies of ‘Particulars of Pay Notes’ signed by Foreman of the Engine Yard, William Buckle.

The letters are signed by the Head Clerk William Forman and his successors Christopher Roberts, Jonathan Dawn and William Lloyd, and the junior clerks Samuel Hurt, Alexander Rowan, William Bennett, Henry Hughes, Fleetwood V. Williams, Henry Wright, Frederick Viney, John Ward, C. Allen, Robert H. Davies and Edward J. Elliott. The first book also contains a few letters written by partners – James Watt, James Watt Jr. and Matthew Boulton – and occasional letters by members of the Drawing Office, foremen and engine erectors – John Southern, David Thomson, Thomas Wilson, James Lawson.

At some point the first nine folios and the index of the first book became detached. The folios found their way into the loose papers in the Boxes and Parcels, but the index was lost. The Library re-mounted and rebound these letters, and listed them as a bundle of loose correspondence. They have been listed separately here, as Volume 3/190, but they are properly part of the following book. The series is far from complete. The post of Head Clerk properly developed under William Forman in the 1790s, so Volumes 3/190 and 3/191 may be the first, or at least one of the earlier books in the series. Thereafter there are considerable gaps, and the series presumably continued after 1846. All the books were rebound by the Library and mis-titled ‘Letter Book (Foundry)’ on their spines. All the books have indexes except Volume 3/191.

Clerks’ Letter Books, Soho Foundry.
These books contain copies of letters written by the clerks in the Counting House at Soho Foundry. The clerks dealt with the day-to-day administration of the Foundry, and the letters concern orders for parts from subcontractors, purchase of stores, advising customers of dispatch of parts (‘letters of advice’), and so on. The letters are signed by the Head Clerk Samuel Hurt and his successors John Ward, John Bennett, John Dawn and John Thomas, and their staff of clerks.

In January 1860 the series was split in two. The book that had been started in April 1859 (3/233) was now used solely for letters to carrying companies concerning the delivery of parts. The Head Clerk, John Thomas, opened a new book solely for his letters (3/234).

The series is complete to August 1842, but the quality of the copies in some of the early volumes is extremely poor, and in some extreme cases the majority of the letters in the books cannot be read. Many of the books are also missing their indexes, as noted in the list below. The books were rebound by the Library with the exceptions of volumes 3/200, 3/223 to 3/226, and 3/231. All the rebound volumes were correctly identified as ‘Letter Book (Foundry)’ or for, the post-1848 volumes, ‘James Watt & Co. Letter Book.’

Purchase of Stores, Soho Foundry.
This book contains copies of letters and notes from the clerks at Soho Foundry ordering stores, raw materials and parts from local Birmingham businesses. The orders appear to have been numbered. The letters are signed by John Ward, Frederick Viney, Robert Davies and William Lloyd. The volume was rebound by the Library and mistitled as a ‘Letter Book (Firm)’ on the spine.

Despatch Letters, Soho Foundry.
This book contains copies of letters written by the clerks at Soho Foundry to customers informing them of the despatch of engine parts, spares, stores and so on. Such letters were sometimes referred to as ‘letters of advice.’ The letters are in a standard form and signed by William S. Garland, Robert Meiklejohn or simply as ‘James Watt & Co.’ The equivalent letters to the carrying companies will be found in the Clerks’ Letter Book which covers part of the same period (3/232). This book is presumably the sole survivor of a larger series. The volume was rebound by the Library and titled as a ‘James Watt & Co. Letter Book’ on the spine. The book has an index.

Letters to Carriers, Soho Foundry.
These two books are the only surviving examples of the series that carried on from the Clerks’ Letter Book that was divided in January 1861 (3/233). These books contain copies of letters written by the clerks at Soho Foundry to carrying companies informing them of loads to be delivered and who they are for. These books are much smaller in size than the previous Clerks’ Letter Books, as they consist of press copies directly bound together rather than stuck onto blank pages. The first book (3/237) was rebound by the Library and titled ‘James Watt & Co. Carriage of Goods Notes’ on the spine. It also has an index. The second book (3/238) has not been rebound, and its index was not filled in.

Miscellaneous Outgoing Correspondence.
Miscellaneous press copies of letters that were not stuck into letter books, and were found scattered throughout the collection. Four of the letters date from 1782 and relate to the disappearance of the engine erector James Law. The other two both date from 1790. One is to William Matthews concerning the departure of Boulton & Watt’s clerk John Roberts, and the other is to Samuel Whitbread concerning the potential of the steam engine for driving sugar mills in the West Indies.

Indexes to missing Letter Books.
Loose indexes to letter books that are now missing.

Incoming Correspondence and Papers
Bundles of original letters sent to Boulton & Watt, papers sent to them for information, etc. The replies to these letters will generally be found in the various series of letter books previously described, especially the Business Letter Books (3/81 to 3/148) and the Drawing Office Letter Books (3/170 to 3/179). More detail on the scope and content of each bundle of incoming correspondence will be found in the separate lists of contents.

Letters from Agents, Engine Erectors and Employees at Soho.
Bundles of letters from Boulton & Watt’s business agents around the country such as Thomas Wilson in Corwall and Thomas Barnes in the North East, letters from the travelling engineers or ‘engine erectors’ who actually put up, maintained and repaired engines, and from other Soho-based employees such as the Chief Cashier and Bookkeeper James Pearson. The majority of these letters were received at Soho, but others were sent to the partners when they were away, for example in Cornwall or London.

Also included are letters from Boulton and Watt to their engineer in Cornwall Logan Henderson, and bundles of letters from customers and Soho employees to the engine erector and agent James Lawson. Henderson and Lawson returned these letters to Soho, and they were kept with the other bundles of incoming correspondence. There is also a bundle of letters to the chief cashier James Pearson, mostly from Boulton and Watt and their sons. These letters were removed from a larger series of incoming correspondence addressed to Pearson that is now lost.

General Correspondence.
Bundles of letters from engine customers, suppliers of raw materials, enquirers, engine erectors, carrying companies, and so on. Very little general correspondence after 1798 has survived, and there is none remaing for the period from 1843 to 1895. For more details see the relevant Lists of Contents.

Cornish Mines and Engines, 1775-1807.
A wide variety of material including letters, working papers, memoranda and volumes, relating to the engines supplied by Boulton & Watt to the mines of Cornwall. Much of the material in these bundles was probably removed from the general correspondence, and much of it relates to the various legal actions pursued against the so-called ‘recusant mines’ over unpaid engine premiums (see Legal Records, 2/51 to 2/60 for further legal material). For more details see the relevant Lists of Contents.

Albion Mill, 1782-1802.
Letters, papers, calculations and sketches relating to the Albion Mill, the flour mill at Blackfriars in London in which Matthew Boulton and James Watt were partners. For more details see the relevant Lists of Contents, and for more on the Albion Mill see its entry in the Guide to Persons and Firms in the Archives Searchroom.

Establishment of a London Banking Concern, 1801-1802.
A small bundle of papers about the establishment of M. & R. Boulton J. & G. Watt & Co. in London following the death of Charlotte Matthews. For records of the banking agency and details of its history see the separate series of records within the Boulton & Watt collection (MS 3147/26 to 30).

Gas Lighting, 1805-1816.
Bundles of correspondence and papers relating to Boulton Watt & Co.’s production of gas lighting apparatus and their opposition to the Gas Light & Coke Bill in 1809. For more details see the relevant Lists of Contents.

Steam Boats, 1810-1843.
Bundles of correspondence about various steam boats. These letters were removed from the series of general correspondence. For more details see the relevant Lists of Contents.

Special Subjects and Correspondents.
Bundles of letters relating to a particular topic or from a particular correspondent. The correspondents include sub-contractors and suppliers such as John Wilkinson or J. & G. Davies, customers such as Sir Nigel Gresley or the Falmouth Water Company, lawyers, for example William Bedford and Thomas Handley, general engineering and scientific correspondents such as J. D. H. van Liender or James Keir, and there are also subject-oriented bundles such as the Marly Water Works and French Patent, or ‘Titled and Private Gentlemen.’ A few of these bundles are artificial in that they were created from letters removed from the general correspondence – this is particularly true for ‘famous names’ such as Thomas Telford or Richard Arkwright – but it was decided to leave these bundles intact as they were created while the archives were still in the posession of James Watt & Co. in the 1890s.

It should also be noted that hardly any of the bundles date from after 1820. The firm continued to use the system of special bundles well into the 19th century, as the existence of a bundle titled ‘Post Office Jan. 1st to Jun. 27th 1827’ is known, but exactly how many bundles are now missing is not known, as no list has been found.

For more details on each of the special bundles, see the relevant Lists of Contents.

Letters from Schemes (concerning New Inventions, Improvements to the Steam Engine etc.), 1801-1829.
‘Letters from Schemes,’ or sometimes ‘Letters from Schemers,’ was Boulton Watt & Co.’s way of referring to correspondence from engineers and inventors offering the sale or use of their inventions and patents. The range of inventions offered was vast, from supposed improvements to the steam engine and boilers, through gas lighting apparatus, to domestic items such as corkscrews, perambulators and a portable kitchen. For more details see the relevant Lists of Contents.

Miscellaneous letters about the history of the firm etc.
A small collection of letters sent to James Watt & Co. about old engines, gifts to the firm, visits to consult material in the Watt Room, and so on. For more details see the List of Contents.

Memoranda and Papers
A large number of memoranda, calculations, notes and other material used for reference was found scattered throughout the collection, and for much of it the original order was lost. The material listed here is generally reference material, giving information on other engines, factories, steam boats, experiments made at Soho, and so on. These papers were used for general information and reference – memoranda and calculations made for specific engine customers will be found among the Production Records.

Schemes, Plans & Calculations, Descriptions of new Machines etc.
Two bundles of memoranda, notes and calculations on various engines, both Boulton & Watt’s and other engineers’, schemes for various applications of steam engines, notes on items such as coal and fossils, etc. These bundles appear to have been assembled by James Watt. For more details see the List of Contents.

Experiments on Engines etc.
Experiments on the first engine at Soho, James Watt, Nov., Dec. 1774, Jun. 1775.
A small notebook with entries mostly by James Watt detailing experiments made on the first engine at Soho with an 18 inch cylinder. This was the engine that Watt had erected at Kinneil and which Boulton had bought and had moved to Soho. The notebook details the working of the engine on 30 November, 1, 2, 3, 14, 23, 27 and 28 December 1774, and 6, 14, 15 and 16 June 1775. The first pa

The Correspondence and Papers are arranged in various series. Some of these series contain large numbers of volumes, but many contain only one volume or bundle, either because no other examples from that series survive, or because the volume or bundle in question was a one-off. The series are grouped together thematically, as follows:

Principals’ and Partners’ Correspondence
Outgoing Correspondence
Incoming Correspondence and Papers
Memoranda and Papers

More detailed information on each series is given in the Description field, while reference numbers and covering dates of the actual records, and a list of the old reference numbers will be found in the pdf of the full series list attached. Item level lists and a list with index of correspondents are available in the searchroom of Birmingham Archives and Heritage.

167 volumes of various sizes, 164 archive boxes

There are no restrictions on access to or use of the Boulton & Watt Correspondence and Papers. However fragile items or those in a poor state of repair may not be served at the discretion of the Duty Archivist.

The records listed here are the surviving volumes of outgoing letters written by Boulton & Watt and their successor firms, the bundles of letters written by the partners to each other, bundles of letters written by engine erectors, agents and other employees, and letters received from customers, enquirers, suppliers, and so on. Also listed here are various working papers and memoranda used for reference.

Boulton & Watt?s practices in keeping correspondence closely followed those already employed by Matthew Boulton and the clerks of the other businesses at Soho Manufactory. Indeed, the earliest letters received by the engine firm were originally kept with letters addressed to Boulton?s other concerns until the engine business developed their own distinct administration. Early general letters and letters from the engineer Logan Henderson from 1776, were filed by Boulton?s clerk Zaccheus Walker, then later passed to the engine firm?s clerks.

Letters received by the firm were folded up and kept in bundles. To help locate particular letters in large bundles, nearly all the correspondence was ?docketed,? that is, the name of the writer, the date of writing and frequently a summary of the contents were written on the back of the letter, close to the top, once it had been folded up. This meant that someone could flick through the letters in a bundle and see the authors, dates and subjects at a glance without untying the bundle and unfolding the letters. This practice of folding, docketing and keeping in bundles endured throughout the firm?s existence, right up until James Watt & Co.?s folding in 1895. Correspondence that was deemed to be general, usually enquiries about engines, and routine correspondence with customers and suppliers, were kept in alphabetical bundles spanning a particular period. Letters from a correspondent who was deemed particularly significant , or letters on a particular special topic, were kept in their own dedicated bundles, often with a wrapper bearing some description of the contents. Further details of docketing and particular bundles will be found in the notes in the Description field, and also in the lists describing the contents of individual bundles.

The keeping of copies of outgoing letters written by the firm was revolutionised by James Watt?s invention of the copying press in 1779/1780. For the first few years, copies letters had to be written out by hand, and it was the time this arduous process took that led Watt to seek a means of mechanically copying letters. Hand-written copies were made straight into large volumes. Press copies, once they had been dried out, were pasted into large books as well, and the volumes were then indexed. This practice endured until the 1870s, when the copying paper was much stronger. Volumes were then made up of copy letters that were directly bound together. This method produced much smaller volumes. Further details of the various series of volumes of outgoing letters will be found in the notes in the Description field.

There was no one single repository for the engine firm?s correspondence, and each office was responsible for its own bundles of incoming letters and volumes of copies of outgoing letters. The partners? office and the Drawing Office held most of the general business correspondence and bundles of special correspondence, but the Chief Cashier and the clerks maintained their own correspondence in the Counting House. Other key employees such as the Engine Yard Foreman also had their own letter books. When Soho Foundry opened, the clerks in the Counting House there had their own series of letter books. Therefore the quality and survival of particular series of correspondence depended very much on the care of the responsible employees and the conditions in the offices. These do appear to have varied ? for example the clerks at Soho Foundry appear to have given little care to the standard of their press copies or to protecting the volumes from water damage.

Also listed here are various bundles of memoranda and papers. These record details of engines, both Boulton & Watt?s and others, details of factories and mines, various experiments, calculations, and so on. There are also several bundles of papers relating to steam boats. These bundles were used the partners? office and the Drawing Office for reference, and they were treated in a very similar way to the correspondence in that they were docketed and kept in bundles.