| Description | Letters to James Lawson from 1797. Lawson was one of Boulton & Watt’s longest-serving and most experienced engine erectors and engineers. He received letters from both his employers and customers. He appears to have kept them in yearly bundles, and docketed them with the date and the name of the author. Many of these bundles found their way back to Soho – presumably Lawson left them behind on his numerous visits.
At some point, the bundles were split up and letters distributed around the collection, mainly according to author. For example, letters that he had received from Matthew Robinson Boulton were added to the bundles of letters from Matthew Robinson Boulton to James Watt Jr., and letters from John Southern were added to bundles of letters from Southern to Boulton & Watt. During the re-listing of the archives under the Archives of Soho Project, Lawson’s letters were removed from the bundles into which they had been placed, and his original bundles were restored as much as possible.
The majority of these letters are from Matthew Robinson Boulton, with some from James Watt Jr. and John Southern. There are also letters from other Soho employees such as William Forman and Thomas Wilson Jr., and also a letter each from John Rennie and George Lee. There are also several letters from customers, letters from members of Lawson’s family, and several transcripts of letters that Lawson wrote back to Soho. Most of the letters are addressed to Lawson in Leeds, Manchester, Preston and Scotland. |