| Description | Bundle of fifty-seven letters and papers to James Watt from Jonathan Hornblower, sr. and Jonathan Hornblower jr.; Jethro Hornblower and Jabez Hornblower, 1776 to 1796.
There was no bundle label .
The letters from Jabez Hornblower, which deal wilth the engine at Penryndee, were grouped separately, and this arrangement has been retained.
The letters had not been numbered but were arranged in chronological order .
The letters have a docket with the name of the correspondent and the date, although not in the hand of James Watt.
There were no summaries.
Any summary in square brackets has been given by the cataloguer.
Many of the letters have a pencil tick, usually by the docket, which suggests they were read by J.P.Muirhead.
Both Hornblower brothers were engineers in Cornwall. B&W employed Jonathan to work on various engines in Cornwall and Jabez was employed at Birmingham for a time, and was sent to erect the engine at Penrhyndû (or Penryndee), Caernarvonshire, in Sept. 1779.
Jonathan Hornblower jnr. infringed Watt's patent by the erection of a two cylinder engine at Wheal Maid in 1781 and at Radstock Colliery near Bath in 1782. B&W fought the infringement and eventually won the case. |