| Description | As part of Boulton & Watt’s campagin to assert both the validity of Watt’s patent and the supremacy of their engine over Jonathan Hornblower’s in Cornwall, their Cornish agent Thomas Wilson wrote and published a pamphlet. The original version appeared during or soon after Boulton & Watt’s opposition to Hornblower’s bill before the House of Commons to have his patent extended. Following various advertisements in the Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury and General Advertiser between August and November 1792 (see MS 3147/2/49), Matthew Boulton suggested that Wilson re-issue his pamphlet. Wilson wrote to Boulton & Watt on 29 December 1792 with suggestions for various additions and changes. His letter noted that his original pamphlet had been published "to controvert assertions made in the House of Commons last Spring, grounded upon false information…" The pamphlet appears to have been re-published in January 1793.
For papers relating to premiums demanded from mines that erected Hornblower’s engines, see the bundles of papers relating to Cornish Law Cases (MS 3147/2/51—MS 3147/2/60). For drawings of Jonathan Hornblower’s engines, see "Sketches and Descriptions of Pirate and Rival Engines" (MS 3147/2/62) and "Drawings of Engine Designs by James Watt, Bull and Hornblower’s Engines, Dutch Windmill etc.", Portfolio MS 3147/5/1339b. |