| Description | BE AWARE THAT THE NUMBERING ON THE PAPER CATALOGUE FOR THIS SERIES HAS GONE AWRY. THERE WERE 2 ITEMS /55 (ONE IS NOW /52a); THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN /82 AND /108; THE PAPER LIST NUMBERS UP TO /115 BUT THE OLD REFERENCES GIVE /117 AS THE LAST NUMBER.
The contents of this file were probably originally in four separate files. They were placed together in one portfolio by M. R. Boulton when he arranged his own and his father’s papers, about 1819. According to the Inventory compiled by the Assay Office in 1922, the title on the portfolio was "Shrievalty, M. Boulton. Soho Volunteer Association. County Rates of Warwickshire Discussion. Harborne Poor’s Rates Dispute." but this is now missing.
The documents are now arranged in seven chronological sequences, as follows:
Shrievalty: Correspondence, 1792-1794.
Shrievalty: Accounts and Memoranda.
Shrievalty: Legal Documents.
Shrievalty: Staffordshire Volunteer Cavalry.
Soho Volunteers and Association, 1798.
Harborne Poor’s Rate Dispute.
Documents apparently misfiled.
No documents have been found relating to the "County Rates of Warwickshire Discussion."
The arrangement of these documents is based on that shown in the Assay Office Catalogue, but has been altered in several respects; see the Old References section below. There are four documents at the end which appear to have either been misfiled, or transferred from elsewhere by the Assay Office: of these, the last two were listed, for no apparent reason, under the heading "Soho Foundry."
The officers appointed by Matthew Boulton at the beginning of his shrievalty included the following:
Chaplain:
Dr. Croft, of Birmingham.
Bailiff of the Hundred Court of Offlow South:
William Parkes Spurrier.
Bailiff:
Thomas Sherratt.
Trumpeters.
Sampson Cartwright.
James Clarke.
Postilions:
William Harper, footman at Soho House.
? Leonard Tyson.
Javelin Men:
Joseph Meadows, probably a worker on the Soho estate.
John Jerome (or Jerrom) Sr., worker at Soho Mint.
John Stansby (or Stansbie), probably a worker on the Soho estate.
John Smith, gardener at Soho.
John Smith, carpenter.
William Lowe, farmer.
John Vickers, farmer.
James Baker, worker on the Soho estate.
John Millard, worker on the Soho estate.
Joseph Callow (or Calley).
Samuel Carter.
John Chamberlain.
Samuel Groves.
? Extra Footman:
? Samuel Jervis.
On the subject of the Harborne Poor’s Rates, see also the following letters: Matthew Boulton to Theodore Price, 24 Jan. 1799; William Bedford to Matthew Boulton, 18 Mar. 1799. |