Matthew Boulton
Matthew                 Boulton
factory founder                 and steam engine builder
Matthew Boulton was born in                 Birmingham, England, on September 14, 1728, the                 son of a silver-stamper who made snuff boxes,                 toothpick cases, nutmeg graters, and other                 trinkets and gadgets. After completing his basic                 education, he joined his father's business, and                 became a full partner at the age of 21. At about                 that same time, he married Mary Robinson, the                 daughter of a wealthy merchant. Mary Boulton                 inherited ï¿½14,00 upon her parents' death, which                 passed to her husband upon her death in 1759. His                 father died that same year, leaving the business                 to him. In 1760, Boulton married Ann, his late                 wife's younger sister.
Soho Manufactory
Not content with simply                 stamping out gadgets, Boulton wanted the family                 business to expand into a variety of product                 lines, each of which would be known for quality                 of workmanship. To accomodate his ambitious plan                 he took on a partner, John Fothergill and                 established the Soho Manufactory, a 13-acre                 facility that, by 1765, was producing jewelry, "toys," Sheffield plate and sterling                 silver tableware, coins, medals, etc. The                 facility housed not only workshops, but                 also showrooms, design offices, stores, and                 accommodation for the workers. At its height, the                 Soho Manufactory employed over a thousand people.
The Soho Manufactory was by no means a typical                 factory. Rather than a huge open space full of                 noisy machinery run by unskilled laborers who                 were treated more like servants than employees,                 it was a collection of workshops brought together                 under a single ownership and a single roof. The                 workers employed here were skilled craftsmen, and                 were well paid. Boulton equipped those workers                 with all manner of labor-saving devices, thus                 enabling them to be more productive. Such devices                 were made affordable by the use of clever designs                 with interchangeable components, enabling many                 products to be assembled from a relatively small                 number of components, each of which was                 efficiently manufactured in quantity. The Soho Manufactory was also unique in                 the way it treated its workers. Boulton refused                 to hire workers under the age of 12. In the                 1770's, he introduced one of the first workers'                 insurance plans in the world, funded by                 workers' contributions of 1/60th of their wages,                 and which paid benefits of up to 80% of wages to                 staff who were sick or injured. Boulton also                 ensured that the works were clean, well lit, and                 well ventilated. The facility quickly became                 Birmingham's premier tourist attraction, and,                 ever the shrewd businessman, Boulton had a tea-house built on the grounds so                 visitors could enjoy refreshments after their                 factory tour.
Among the many products made at the Soho                 Manufactory were sterling silver plate for those                 who could afford it, and Sheffield plate,                 silver-plated copper, for those who could not                 afford pure silver; it is believed that Boulton                 was the first to manufacture Sheffield plate in                 the Birmingham area. Although there was a                 significant difference in price between the two                 types of items, they were both made with the same                 exacting craftsmanship and quality, with the cost                 difference being reflected only in the base metal                 used. To facilitate the assaying and hallmarking                 of the great quantities of silver plate he wanted                 his factory to produce, Boulton campaigned                 vigorously for the establishment of an assay                 office in Birmingham, which was successful.                 Despite the quality of the products, the Boulton & Fothergill silver plate product line was                 never financially profitable due to the huge amount of capital that had to be tied up in the                 company's silver inventory.
One of Boulton's early efforts to market                 to the wealthy was a line of vases decorated with ormolu, milled gold amalgamated with                 mercury and applied to the item. Previously a                 French specialty, Boulton & Fothergill copied                 vase designs from classical Greek works and                 borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants,                 and sculptors so they could reproduce their                 design elements. Boulton sold several pieces to                 the Royal Family, and at Christie's auction                 house, but the English craze for ornolu ended                 almost as quickly as it had arisen and by the                 early-1770's the firm's stock far exceeded                 potential demand and many pieces had to be sold                 below cost in order to recoup at least some of                 its investment. Boulton never stopped taking                 orders for ornolu, but it was dropped from the                 company's official "catalog" in 1779.
Not all of Boulton's                 innovations were successful, however. With                 painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for                 the mechanical reproduction of paintings so the                 middle class could afford to own great works of                 art, but the concept was a failure from the start                 and Boulton eventually abandoned the idea. With                 James Keir, he produced an alloy that, according                 to their claims, would be ideal for sheathing                 wooden ships because it would not corrode in                 water. The British Admiralty rejected their                 claims, however, and the metal was eventually                 used to make sashes for Boulton's family home.
Steam Engine
In 1763, James Watt received a Newcomen Steam Engine that needed repair. While working on                 the engine Watt discovered how he could make it                 more efficient, and he secured a patent for his                 improved steam engine in 1769. Watt then secured                 financial backing from ironworks owner John                 Roebuck and spent the next few years building a                 working prototype and trying to sell his design.                 Roebuck went bankrupt in 1773, and Boulton, to                 whom he owed ï¿½1,200, assumed his two-third's                 share in Watt's steam engine. Immediately                 recognizing the potential for Watt's engine as a                 power supply for his and other factories, Boulton                 made Watt a partner in the Soho Manufactory                 (Fothergill having made it very clear he wanted                 nothing to do with the steam engine) and the two                 began producing Watt Steam Engines, the majority                 of which were leased to coal mines, where they                 were used to pump water out of the mines.
Because the Soho Manufactory                 lacked the space and equipment necessary to mass                 produce the Watt Steam Engine, most of the                 engines sold by Boulton and Watt were assembled                 on site from parts acquired from several                 suppliers. The company made its profit through an                 ingenious scheme developed by Watt -- comparing                 the amount of coal used by the Watt engine with                 that used by the less-efficient Newcomen Engine                 and then requiring annual lease payments of                 one-third of the savings for 25 years. Before                 this scheme could be successful, however, Boulton                 had to convince the British Parliament to extend                 Watt's patent for that same 25 years to prevent                 competitors from copying the design and                 undercutting the lease price; it took a                 considerable amount of work and persuasion, but                 Boulton was ultimately successful and the                 partnership's monopoly was protected.
Recognizing the enormous                 industrial potential of steam power, Boulton                 insisted that Watt continue to not only improve                 his basic design but to find new uses for it as                 well. That insistence led to development of the                 rotary-motion steam engine, and, in 1785, a                 textile mill owned by Richard Arkwright became the first in the world to be                 powered by a steam engine. The Boulton-Watt                 partnership proved enormously successful for both                 men, and by the time their monopoly expired in                 1800 they had sold approximately 450 steam                 engines.
Coinage
About 1786, Boulton began using steam                 engines to power coin minting machines, and                 before long he was supplying foreign governments                 with high-quality coins. In 1788, hoping to                 garner a contract for producing British coins, he                 established the Soho Mint as a separate entity                 within the Soho Manufactory. To combat the then                 all-too-common practice of coin counterfeiting,                 he introduced standard sizes for each                 denomination, and his exacting design and minting                 process insured that the quality of each coin                 minted was almost impossible to reproduce. His                 designs included reeded and lettered edges, and,                 later, a raised border. He also came up with a                 gauge that could quickly determine if any given                 coin was of proper dimension and weight, and                 introduced the practice of making the weight of                 copper coins proportional to their value.                 Although these standards earned him numerous                 contracts from foreign governments and major                 trading enterprises (such as the British East                 India Company), the British government did not                 become one of his customers until 1797, when the                 Royal Mint commissioned him to produce penny and                 twopenny pieces; in 1799 he was also contracted                 to produce the halfpence and the farthing. About 1800, Catherine the Great commissioned Boulton to                 supply coinmaking machinery for the Russian Mint                 in St. Petersburg, and it was for this project                 that he developed the world's first "in-line" manufacturing process,                 wherein a strip of metal enters one end of the                 manufacturing line and finished coins emerge from                 the other.
Lunar Society and                 Other Interests
Fascinated with all areas of                 science from an early age, Boulton helped found                 the Lunar Society of Birmingham in 1766. So named                 because it originally met on the night of the                 full moon, members of this group included James                 Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, Joseph Priestley , Thomas Day, William Small, John                 Whitehurst, William Withering, Richard Lovell                 Edgeworth, and Erasmus Darwin. The group was                 active in a variety of scientific investigations                 and met reguarly to discuss scientific progress                 until 1813, by which time most of its members had                 either died or moved away. The Society was                 formally dissolved that year and its assets were                 sold off.
Boulton took an active interest                 in the social health of Birmingham, serving on                 committees that oversaw development of the                 Birmingham Dispensary (which provided medicines                 and medical care for the poor) and the General                 Hospital, and chairing the committee which masterminded improvements to the city theatre. In                 a brief foray into politics, he served as High                 Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1794. An enthusiastic                 patron of the arts, he commissioned family                 portraits from some of the finest portrait                 painters of the age, and his Soho Manufactory was                 often likened to an art school, where promising                 apprentices received tuition in drawing and were                 encouraged to attend plays and exhibitions to                 develop their artistic sensibilities.
Matthew Boulton died of kidney                 failure at Soho House (his Handsworth, Birmingham                 residence) on August 17, 1809, and is buried at                 St. Mary's Church.