Premises Records

MS 3147/9

Premises Records

1783-1894

Survivial of the records relating to premises is poor. The major series such as the buildings and machinery books and the inventories have large gaps in them, and it also seems likely that many more files of loose papers relating to the workshops at Soho Manufactory and Soho Foundry have been lost. For example very little material relating to the early years of either the Manufactory workshops or Soho Foundry survives. Also very little survives for the latter half of the 19th century when the firm, then called James Watt & Co., was based solely at Soho Foundry. However information can be gleaned from other records, particularly the Accounting Records (MS 3147/1), the Correspondence & Papers (MS 3147/3), and the Drawings (MS 3147/5).

Buildings and Machinery Books and Accounts
Buildings and Machinery Books record in detail the additions made to the fabric of the premises and to the machinery contained in each department. There were separate books for the workshops at Soho Manufactory and for Soho Foundry, but not all the books have survived.

Soho Foundry.
Buildings & Machinery Book 1.
This large volume is divided into separate accounts, one for buildings and one for machinery. Each account is further divided by department – Establishment, Foundry Department, Smithy Department, Fitting Department, and so on. The entries were posted from the rough book and various other books which have not survived. The volume is indexed, and contains references to a second book which is now missing. Some entries are also cross-referred to James Watt Jr.’s personal ‘Soho Foundry Buildings and Machinery’ book.

Rough Buildings & Machinery Book., 1830-1852.
This book contains a chronological running account of extensions to the buildings, new machinery, and so on. Entries were copied to the Buildings & Machinery Book described above, and, between 1831 and 1835, entries were also copied to James Watt Jr.’s personal ‘Soho Foundry Buildings and Machinery’ book. Other rough books presumbaly existed, but have not survived.

Miscellaneous Buildings and Machinery Accounts, 1816-1848.
This bundle of soft-cover books and sheets contains various buildings and machinery accounts, as well as accounts for stores and materials. The items were probably kept together after their entries had been copied into the main Buildings & Machinery Book.

Fittings for Buildings & Machinery, September 1834-September 1841.
These sheets have been taken from a larger volume. They contain a rough account of the fitting work carried out on various items charged to the buildings and machinery accounts, such as a new crane, work at the boring mill, number 2 planing machine, and so on.

Buildings & Machinery, April 1835-September 1843.
This small book contains day-by-day accounts of parts made for the departments at Soho Foundry, or for various items of machinery. This may be a smith or foundryman’s personal account of parts made for internal orders.

Copies of Building and Machinery percentages etc., 1798-1824
This small folder contains two sets of accounts. The first sheets give the annual totals of the Building & Machinery Accounts with no percentages deducted for deprecation, from 1798 to 1814. The second set of sheets give the annual totals for each department at the Foundry, with 5% deducted, from 1817 to 1822 and 1824. The annual totals for 1803 to 1816 can be found in the book of draft inventories, 30 September 1800 to 30 September 1802 (9/19).

Soho Manufactory.
Buildings Machinery & Fixtures Account, 1802-1836.
This book is similar to the Soho Foundry Buildings & Machinery Book 1. Each department or shop has an account, which records payment for materials for and work on extensions and repairs to the fabric and buildings, new machinery, and so on. Most of the entries were cross-referred to the inventory, but others were posted to another book, possibly a journal, which has not survived. The book is indexed and was rebound by the Library.

Inventories.
Inventories of Goods, Soho Manufactory.
This volume is the oldest record relating directly to Boulton & Watt’s premises. It contains inventories of the tools, materials, engine parts, items of stationary, fittings and so on in each workshop, storage building and room at Soho Manufactory belonging to the engine firm. The later inventories also include goods held at Gilbert’s Wharf and at John Rennie’s premises. Each inventory was summarised at the end and totals were posted to the Journal by James Pearson, the bookkeeper. The inventories date from 1783 to 1793. The series presumably continued, but no inventories have survived until those in the volume beginning in 1805 described below.

Inventories, Soho Manufactory.
At some point between 1793, when the previous volume ends, and 1805, when the first volume in this series begins, the manner of taking the inventories changed. The inventories in these books are arranged into four sections, as follows: I – Buildings, giving the value of the buildings and changes since the last inventory; II – Machinery & Fixtures, giving the value of the machinery and fixtures and any changes since the last inventory; III – Tools and Utensils, listing in detail the tools and utensils in each department and shop and their value; IV – Goods & Materials, listing raw materials and engine parts and materials by type of material, then by department or shop. An abstract is given at the end of each inventory, and the totals posted to the Journal.

The first of these four volumes has been rebound by the Library.

Rough Drafts, Soho Manufactory.
The draft inventories were used for drawing up the complete versions above. The draft versions do not include the values of the buildings or the machinery and fixtures, and they do not usually have an abstract at the end. The drafts list tools and utensils, goods and raw materials, engine parts in rough and completed states, stores, timber, and so on. Two volumes of draft inventories survive for Soho Manufactory.

Inventories, Soho Foundry.
These inventories for Soho Foundry are similar to those made for the workshops at Soho Manufactory. They list the value of the buildings, followed by the machinery and fixtures, then they list goods and materials, stores, timber and other items such as bricks and farming implements used in the workers’ gardens. An abbreviature was made up at the end of each inventory. The first volume contains five inventories, including one made soon after the completion of the Foundry in March 1797. Many of the details in these inventories were transcribed from the Buildings & Machinery Book.

At some point in the 1800s, the practice began of entering each inventory in its own individual volume, presumably because they were becoming so large that volumes containing multiple inventories would have been too unwieldy. Only three of these survive. The first two, for 1812 and 1816, have both been re-bound by the Library, and the first has the abbreviature placed erroneously at the start. The third, from 1879, is one of the few records of the premises dating from the James Watt & Co. period. However this inventory does not include goods.

Rough Drafts, Soho Foundry.
The first volume is a softcover volume that contains drafts of the inventories of only the buildings and the machinery and fixtures for 1800 to 1801. Much of the information has been taken from the Buildings & Machinery Book. After these inventories the book gives the annual totals of the building and machinery account for each department at the Foundry, with 5% deducted, from 1803 to 1816. This account is continued from 1817 to 1822 and 1824 in the bundle titled ‘Copies of Buildings & Machinery Percentages etc., 1798-1824’ (9/6).

The next two volumes are small books containing inventories of tools and utensils and engine parts and goods in various parts of the Foundry, mostly belonging to the Fitting Department, although other items such as the engines in the engine house and the fire extinguishing engine are also occasionally mentioned. Many of these inventories are also dated from the early part of October rather than 30 September. The second of these books has been re-bound by the Library.

The final volume is a large volume that only contains an inventory for 1835 which is incomplete, for example details of the buildings and machinery have not been filled in. However this inventory does include a list of debts and cash.

Memoranda and Papers about Premises, Machinery, Extensions, New Houses etc.
Relatively few bundles of papers relating to the development of Boulton & Watt’s premises have survived, and those that have were found in a very disordered state. Some original bundle wrappers have survived, and those bundles have been restored as far as possible. The wrappers bear evidence of an early numbering scheme.

Calculations and Estimates of Buildings and Other Undertakings, 1796-c. 1808.
The title of this bundle has been taken from its original wrapper, which lists the contents as follows: ‘Estimates of Small Houses & sundry workmanship abt. them; - of the two rows of workmen’s houses at Soho Foundry; - of the extension of ye Foundry; Hurt’s measurement of carpenter’s work on the Copying Co.’s premises; Estimate of expense of enlarging the Foundry Yard; Cost of 4 new end houses in the Lower Row at Soho Foundry.’ This bundle is complete except for the estimates of the new end houses, although it does contain an estimate for bricks and an estimate for two houses, which was probably a quote from a builder for the end houses. Some details of these end houses will be found in the bundle ‘Sundry Memorandums relative to the Estimation of the new houses made July 1810’ (9/27).

The bundle has been numbered ‘4’ in ink and later ‘5’ in pencil.

Projected canal or rail road between Soho and the Foundry, c. December 1799.
The title of this bundle is also taken from its original wrapper. The bundle contains ‘statements of account and data for the rail road’ in Matthew Robinson Boulton’s hand, notes on the amount of coals consumed and the amount paid for carriage by the various Soho businesses, and a section and plan of the land showing the levels which any canal or railway would have to negotiate.

The bundle has been numbered ‘4’ in ink.

Re-arrangement and Extension of the Soho Engine Manufactory Buildings and Machinery, 1801-1803.
This bundle contains papers relating to the re-arrangement and extension of the engine firm’s premises at Soho Manufactory in the early 1800s. It contains memoranda, proposals, lists of machinery, details of which shops and machines are to do which jobs, proposals for powering the machinery using steam engines, and so on. Almost all the papers in this bundle are in Matthew Robinson Boulton’s hand. An extensive portfolio of drawings from this extension has also survived (MS 3147/5/1444).

Papers etc. relative to the 8 houses built by Thomas Smith at Soho Foundry, 1801-1802.
The title of this bundle is taken from its original wrapper. It contains estimates, accounts and correspondence relating to the construction of eight houses at Soho Foundry in 1801 to 1802. These houses were the second group to be built and formed the ‘Lower Row.’ The bundle also contains a few items relating to the club houses for the Insurance Society.

The bundle has been numbered ‘7’ in ink and later ‘12’ in pencil.

Sundry Memorandums relative to the Estimation of the new houses made July 1810.
The title of this bundle is also taken from its original wrapper. It contains estimates, rough notes and accounts, some of which relate to the four large end houses added to the Lower Row in 1808 to 1809. These appear to have been used as the basis for estimates for building more new houses.

Soho Foundry, miscellaneous papers, 1795-1843.
This file has been made up of various items relating to Soho Foundry which were found scattered through the collection. It includes a transcript of part of the Foundry deed of 1795, prices of glass squares, notes on a nearby public house on Henry Whately’s land, statements of the building and machinery accounts for 1801 to 1805, costs of the gas apparatus from 1805 and 1806, a list of tools needed for Pemberton’s shop in 1809, measures of carpenter’s work, roof timber and slating taken by T. & J. Bateman, surveyors, in 1824 and 1826, particulars of a crane chain wanted in 1831, and an abbreviation of the inventory and value of the land and buildings in 1842 and 1843.

Occasional Manufactory (and Foundry) Memoranda, 1795-1830.
This very miscellaneous bundle does have an original wrapper marked ‘Occasional Many. Memora.’ which appears to date from the mid-19th century, but the contents are extremely varied and include items relating to Soho Foundry as weel, so they are almost certainly not the exact original contents of the bundle. It contents such diverse items as a recipe for soup, a note on planking wanted for floors, accounts of oil and candles used at the Foundry from 1799 to 1808, Thomas Dixon’s charges for slating at the Foundry from 1795 to 1816, and a note on the rents and taxes on the Foundry houses in 1817. There are also several memoranda about bookkeeping by the clerks in the counting houses in 1800, 1808, 1811 and 1816, and the new engine books introduced in 1815 – for transcripts of some of these, see the appendix to MS 3147/4, Production Records. The bundle also contains some notes about wages, the work of the superintendants at Soho Manufactory, lists of workers who wished to send their children to the new Handsworth School in 1813, a note about Boulton Watt & Co.’s credit terms, and a few memoranda about other firm’s prices for castings and engines.

Memoranda relating to Machinery etc., 1797, 1799, 1806, 1824, nd.
This small bundle of mainly undocketed and untitled memoranda was found among the miscellaneous drawings. It includes a memorandum about machinery to be executed when Peter Ewart left Soho Foundry in January 1797, some rough notes about the new machinery at the workshops at the Manufactory from circa 1802, notes on work to be done at the Foundry, items wanted for the Boring Mill and for grinding stones, rings needed for casting cylinders in 1799, a note on the performance of one of the engines, a memorandum for boiler making from 1806, and a note by William Murdock Jr. on lathes from 1824.

Rent Ledgers, Books and Papers.
Rent Ledgers, Soho Foundry Houses.
These two books contain accounts of rents for the 25 houses and gardens and 12 lower gardens at Soho Foundry. They are arranged by account of the person renting the property. These volumes cross-refer to the rental books, only one of which appears to have survived (see below). The first book also contains quarterly lists of rents received by installments, an ‘Abbrievature of Lower Gardens’ 1813-1820, and an ‘Abbrievature of Houses Account,’ 1811-1820. The second book also contains quarterly lists of rents received up to 1826, and a list of people occupying the lower gardens. Very few accounts in the second book go up as far as 1859. Both books are indexed.

The third rent ledger from 1846 to 1866 is not part of the same series as the above two books. It also contains an account of the ‘Cost and Value of Soho Foundry buildings and machinery 1840-1894.’

Rent Book, Soho Foundry Houses.
This book contains running quarterly accounts of rent paid for the 25 houses on the Foundry site. It is cross-referred to the Rent Ledgers described above.

Correspondence relating to Rents.
This small bundle has a late 19th century label marked ‘Mr. Brown’s Letters which regard Mr. Boulton’s Rents.’ The bundle contains letters, accounts and receipts sent by William D. Brown, Matthew Robinson Boulton’s cashier, to the clerks John Ward and John Bennett at Soho Foundry, concerning rents paid by various employees for gardens and houses rented from Matthew Robinson Boulton.

Meteorological Records.
Notebooks.
These notebooks record the daily weather conditions at Soho Manufactory. They were mostly compiled by the Drawing Office staff. Typically the books record the barometer reading, temperature, hygrometer reading, wind direction and speed and cloud cover at 8am, 2pm and 8pm, along with a general comment on the day’s weather and a mention of any unusual phenomena.

Charts.
Printed charts recording meteorological data at Soho. For further details see the separate list.

Observations on the Soho Clock.
This small notebook was originally simply titled ‘Clock,’ but Henry Hazleton described it as ‘Observations on the Soho Clock’ in the 1890s. It contains notes on the working of the working of the clock at Soho Manufactory, including notes on the angle of vibration, when the clock was cleaned, whether it was too fast or too slow, the daily variation, any remarks on its performance, and so on. It also contains a drawing of the pendulum dated 25 December 1808 inserted in the front. The majority of the entries are by William Creighton, with a few of the earlier ones by John Southern.

The Premises Records are arranged in various series. Some of these series contain as many as 10 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 by type of record, as follows:

Buildings and Machinery Books and Accounts
Inventories
Memoranda and Papers about Premises, Machinery, Extensions, New Houses etc.
House Rent Ledgers, Books and Papers
Meteorological Records
Observations on the Soho Clock

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 are available in the searchroom of Birmingham Archives and Heritage.

31 volumes, 4 boxes

There are no restrictions on access to or use of the Boulton & Watt Premises Records. 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 records relating to Boulton & Watt?s premises at Soho Manufactory and Soho Foundry. They include records relating to the fabric of the buildings, the machinery that was installed, houses for the workforce and meteorological observations made at Soho. Boulton & Watt had two manufacturing sites, Soho Manufactory and Soho Foundry. The two were distinct, and care should be taken not to confuse them as has been done in the past.

When Matthew Boulton and James Watt went into partnership in 1775, the only premises their business occupied were a small set of workshops at Matthew Boulton?s Soho Manufactory. Soho Manufactory was the site of all of Boulton?s other businesses ? toy making, plated ware, ormolu, latchets, and so on, and it was never owned by Boulton & Watt or solely dedicated to steam engine production. At first the workshops only made a few specialised parts such as nozzles and valves; other engine parts were made by iron founders such as John Wilkinson or works local to Boulton & Watt?s customers, and Boulton & Watt did not begin their own large scale production until the end of the 18th century. However the workshops at the Manufactory did grow gradually, and the engine firm?s Drawing Office, Counting House and administrative offices were also located at the Manufactory. Following the opening of Soho Foundry in the late 1790s, the firm undertook a large re-organisation and expansion of their premises at Soho Manufactory in 1801 to 1802, mainly under the direction of Matthew Robinson Boulton. The new engines and machinery that the shops employed were designed by William Murdock. This expansion virtually turned the shops at the Manufactory into a complete engine-making facility, and the order books from this date onwards note whether an engine was being made at the Foundry or the Manufactory. (For further details of how engine production was organised, see the introduction to the Production Records, MS 3147/4).A few further extensions and alterations were made to the engine firm?s premises at the Manufactory during the first half of the 19th century, but in 1851-1852 the firm, then called James Watt & Co., moved all their operations to Soho Foundry, and the engine workshops were demolished after they left.

Soho Foundry, located by the Birmingham Canal in Smethwick, a mile away from Soho Manufactory, was owned by Boulton & Watt, and was the world?s first dedicated steam engine factory. (For a detailed history of Soho Foundry, see The Soho Foundry, Smethwick, West Midlands ? A Documentary and Archaeological Study prepared for Sandwell Borough Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund by George Demidowicz, April 2002).

Construction began in August 1795, the first cylinder was bored in December 1796, and full engine production began the following year. Soho Foundry still exists, albeit having undergone several extensive alterations and expansions during its history. It was also the site of houses built by Boulton & Watt for their workforce. The first row was built in 1796, and in fact construction of the houses delayed work on the actual manufacturing premises. A second row was built by a Handsworth builder, Thomas Smith in 1801-1802, and large end houses were added to this second row in 1808-1809. Estimates were drawn up for more houses in 1810, but nothing came of this plan. Another project that never came to fruition was the linking of Soho Manufactory and Soho Foundry by a railway or a canal. When James Watt & Co. went bankrupy in 1895, Soho Foundry was bought by the Birmingham weighing machine makers W. & T. Avery. (For more information on the people and businesses mentioned in this Introduction, see The Guide to Persons & Firms in the Archives Searchroom).

Most of the records relating to the day-to-day administration of the premises, such as the buildings and machinery books, inventories and rent records were kept by the clerks in the counting houses at Soho Manufactory and Soho Foundry. Inventories were usually taken on the 30 September each year. The bundles of loose papers were arranged by Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr., and were kept in the engine firm?s office at Soho Manufactory. The meteorological records and the notes on the performance of the Soho clock were kept in the Drawing Office and were mainly maintained by the Drawing Office head, William Creighton.