| AdminHistory | This list describes the history of the London banking house, and the overall arrangement of its surviving records in the Boulton & Watt collection. Detailed information about the different types of records will be found in the separate lists of each section.
William and Charlotte Matthews.
Matthew Boulton and the firms at Soho used William Matthews1 of 6 Green Lettice Lane, Cannon Street, in London, as a banker and agent. Matthews died in 1792, but his wife Charlotte carried on the business. In July 1795 Charlotte moved to new premises at 13 London Street, near Fenchurch Street. Charlotte Matthews died on 9 January 1802. After much discussion about how to proceed in securing financial services in London, Matthew Boulton, Matthew Robinson Boulton, James Watt Jr. and Gregory Watt decided to establish their own banking house.
The London Banking House.
The new firm was titled M. & R. Boulton J. & G. Watt & Co. Two-thirds of this concern were held by Matthew Boulton and his son, and the remaining third by James Watt Jr. and Gregory Watt in equal shares. The new firm continued to lease Mrs. Matthews’ premises at 13 London Street, and it appointed her two clerks, John Woodward and John Mosley, to act as agents for them in London, but the accounts were to be checked at Soho by William D. Brown. This plan was apparently welcome enough to the agents, for Woodward wrote to Boulton: ‘I rejoice that you have appointed Mr. Brown to inspect our accounts and to correspond with us, because I know he is very accurate, observant, and well informed, and will always be at hand.’ In order that Brown might be able to carry out this task, the agents sent him from time to time duplicates (or, more commonly, transcripts) of their accounts.
Besides the partners cited above, there may have been other men working for the firm who were also known as ‘partners.’ On 22 June 1802 Woodward recorded that ‘Mr. Cornwall, one of the junior partners in our Banking House, died yesterday after a tedious illness’ (though this may be a reference to the Mr. Cornwall who was a partner in the firm of Down & Co., with whom the London Street firm kept an account). Woodward himself seems to have had hopes of becoming a partner, for in 1803, when writing of his imminent marriage, he refers to a frustrated hope ‘that I should have been able in the course of the present year to have effected my stipulated partnership with the firm.’
When Gregory Watt died, on 16 October 1804, his share devolved to his brother, who thus became the holder of a third of the concern. However, Gregory’s initial was retained in the firm’s name for several months after his death-at least till 19 February 1805, but no later than 9 April of that year, when the firm became M. & R. Boulton J. Watt & Co. Upon the death of Matthew Boulton on 17 August 1809, his share fell to his son and the name of the firm was altered to M. R. Boulton J. Watt, & Co., M. R. Boulton holding two-thirds and James Watt Jr. a third part.
Agency with the Bank of England.
In June 1832 the business of the banking house was brought to an end. Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr. began a new firm, M. R. Boulton & J. Watt, which operated an account with the Bank of England. This agency dealt with the business of Boulton Watt & Co., James Watt and Co., Matthew Robinson Boulton’s other businesses, and his and James Watt Jr.’s private accounts. The firm of M. R. Boulton & J. Watt was dissolved on 30 September 1840, when Matthew Robinson Boulton withdrew from his partnerships with James Watt Jr.
Agents of the Banking House.
As noted above, the firm employed Charlotte Matthews’ clerks, John Woodward and John Mosley, as clerks and agents when it was established in 1802. Woodward also had a trading business, importing goods from Jamaica. Woodward died on 8 July 1810, from injuries sustained in a fall from his horse. His account was settled and a present of £500 made to his executors on 31 July 1810.
A third clerk, John Robinson, had been appointed to firm in 1804. He worked at 13 London Street until March 1820, when he left for Soho at Matthew Robinson Boulton’s request to take up the duties of William D. Brown, who had died in December the previous year. This left John Mosley without an assistant, so around April 1820 A. F. Stonebridge was taken on as an assistant clerk. He entered into a formal agreement on 1 January 1821, for five years, which was renewed for five more on 1 December 1825, and continued after its expiration in December 1830.
In May 1832 John Mosley had a paralytic stroke which rendered him incapable of work. A. F. Stonebridge acted as agent, and it was Stonebridge who presided over the close of banking house and the opening of the new agency with the Bank of England in June 1832. John Mosley died in August 1832, and around £3000 of irregularities were found in his account.
A. F. Stonebridge continued to act as the agent at 13 London Street until 1834, when Matthew Robinson Boulton appointed him to take care of his private account and of the accounts of Boulton Watt & Co. and J. Watt & Co. at Soho. A replacement, R. F. Davis, was appointed on 30 April 1834. However Stonebridge never took up his post at Soho, as he died on 1 June. R. F. Davis continued in the post of agent until the firm was dissolved in 1840. Cash agency work was then done by William Langdon, who worked for Boulton Watt & Co.’s London office which was also at 13 London Street. Langdon continued to act as agent when the London office moved to 18 London Street in 1841. |