| Description | Listed under this head are the various documents added to the Matthew Boulton Papers since they came into the custody of the Birmingham Assay Office in 1921. For further information, see the respective Contents lists.
Portion of a Boulton & Fothergill Letter Book
This incomplete letter book contains manuscript copies of letters mainly concerning the dispatch of orders, from 22 March to 13 October 1773. The book’s exact provenance is not known, but it was donated to the Library in 1924 and added to the Boulton & Watt collection.
Pattern Books formerly belonging to Boulton & Fothergill, and Successor Firms
At some point following the death of Matthew Robinson Boulton, pattern books which appear to have contained patterns of wares made by Boulton & Fothergill, M. Boulton (firm) and M. Boulton & Plate Co. were acquired by Elkington & Co., silversmiths and electro-platers, of Birmingham. It seems most likely that Elkingtons acquired these books in the 1850s, when Soho Manufactory was being vacated and parts of it demolished, but it has been asserted that Elkingtons actually acquired them from the steam engine firm James Watt & Co. at the sale of the assets of Soho Foundry in 1895. The former seems more plausible.
How many books Elkingtons acquired, and exactly which Soho firms they were from, is not known, as Elkingtons cut up and re-arranged the patterns, apparently reducing the number of volumes from nine to eight. The pattern books were later acquired by the Library, and added to the Boulton & Watt collection.
A list of the contents of these pattern books, made while they were still in the Boulton & Watt collection, is appended to this list.
Records of the Firm of Boulton & Scale
History.
The firm of Boulton & Scale, manufacturers of buttons, steel chains, and sword hilts, was in existence from 1782 to 1799, the original partners being Matthew Boulton and John Scale. From Whitsuntide 1777 Scale had been a partner in the main button trade at Soho, and when the firm of Boulton & Fothergill was dissolved on June 22nd, 1782, he and Boulton formed a partnership to continue that part of the business. No formal memorandum of agreement was signed till August 16th, but the partnership had apparently been active since the 24th of June, since the memorandum was stated to take effect from that date and the business of the firm had continued in the interim.
For convenience sake, Boulton’s copy of the agreement is transcribed below.
Copy of a memorandum of an agreement between Mattw. Boulton and John Scale to take date 24th June 1782.
7. 14. or 21 Years determinable on 12 Mos Notice on either side.
Matthew Boulton & John Scale both of Soho agree to carry on the business of manufactoring Buttons Steel Chains & Sword hilts at Soho under the Firm of Boulton & Scale in all the branches that have been formerly been carried on under the firm of Boulton & Fothergill (vizt.) in all such buttons as have been formerly been manufactor’d under the direction of Mr Scale and in which he hath formerly been intrested or in any other manufacture of Buttons or other articles that they shall mutualy agree upon.
The business carried on under the firm of Boulton & Scale shall keep all the Accts: belonging thereto in their own care and in their own Books, Shall provide all their own materials and pay all their own debts &c &c.
For such goods as Boulton & Scale sells to Matthew Boulton where he alone runs the risk of the payment &c upon the amount of such goods Boulton & Scale shall allow to Matthew Boulton all the advantages of length of Credit extra allowances called good will &c carriage to London, as customary by the most eminent and respectable Manufactorers in the like branches of Manufacture and as it is judged to be for the intrest of the trade of Boulton & Scale that Mattw Boulton shall not charge any commission upon the Sale of the goods that he purchases of Boulton & Scale they (B & S) under that consideration agree to allow Mattw. Boulton a discot: of 5 per Ct in lieu of said commission and also to agree to make good to him all extra allowances that he is necessiated to make upon the sale of said Goods in consequence of his former agreements with his former friends or with such as it may be mutualy agreed to allow to foreign corrospondents.
Matthew Boulton agrees to advance in money and goods the sum of Six Thousand Pounds and J Scale agrees to advance Three thousand pounds and they mutualy agree to divide the proffit or Loss in the like proportion and if the business or manufactory shall be extended so as to require a further additional Capital it is agreed that either party may advance such additional sum as may be wanted, and they shall receive for such money so advanced an Intrest after the rate of 7½ per Ct. per annum in lieu of proffit, If each party is desirous of advancing such money so wanted they may advance it in proportion to their first agreement, vizt. M. B. may advance 2 parts and J S one part. The Button Co. under the aforesaid firm of Boulton & Scale, shall pay the rent of the Warehouses & Shops at Soho which they occupy as heretofore. The said Button Co. shall deal if they choose it in England, Ireland & Scotland with whom soever they please but Shall not deal with Matthew Boulton’s foreign correspondence upon the European Continent without his consent. B & S shall purchase their materials wanted in their Manufactory of whom they please and under their own Firm. J. Scale agrees to employ his time and attention in the said manufactory and not to enter into any other of a similar nature and that may clash with the intrest of it.
Mattw. Boulton agrees to render all the assistance in his power towards improving or extending the said manufactory and also ingages not to enter into any other manufactory of a similar nature and that clashes with the intrest of it, but as he is already engaged in a manufactory of plated Candlesticks and other plated wares and as he is also ingaged in a partnership with Mr Watt in carrying on the Steam Engine business and likewise he is engaged in carrying on the Mercantile Business at Birmingham. Therefore for these reasons he cannot devote much of his time to the To the Manufactory of Buttons &c in partnership with Mr Scale. But in order to make up such difficiencies M. B. agrees to pay & Satisfy Jas: Pearson the thier present Clerk for keeping the Journal & posting their Ledger in a Mercantile manner, and also to allow to Jno. Scale fifty Pounds per annum both to be paid out of his seperate Share of the said stock. But shou’d it hereafter be deemed necessary by Mr Boulton to employ an assistant or person capable of keeping Books writing Letters going journeys or otherwise assisting in the manufactory to get up orders &c &c wherein he shall devote his whole time & abilities to the intrest thereof; then and in such case the allowance as above to J S of £50– per annum shall cease & Ditermine and the whole Salery of such person or assistant M. B. agrees to pay out of his seperate Share.
Soho 16th Augt. 1783 [Signed] Mattw. Boulton
Witness [signed] Wm Matthews [Signed] John Scale
The rate of Boulton’s discount was apparently immediately raised, by verbal agreement, from 5 to 7½ per cent., and (according to Boulton) "the first term of 7 Years passed in harmony & the Accts. were accordingly settled annualy." It appears that the partnership was later negotiated, perhaps on more than one occasion.
When John Scale died in March 1793, his part in the firm was taken by his two sons, George and John, who continued the firm with Boulton until 1799, when it was wound up. The two Scales moved to Aberdare South Wales, where they established a blast furnace, and the button trade at Soho was continued thereafter by the firm of M. Boulton & Button Company.
Records.
The memorandum of agreement between the partners required that the firm of Boulton & Scale should have their own set of account books, and provision was made for the keeping of a Ledger and Journal by James Pearson, or another person to be specially appointed. Unfortunately none of these books of account survive, nor indeed anything at all besides the Pattern Book and Letter Book described below, the latter of which is itself incomplete.
Inside both books is a slip bearing a note to the effect that, on 3 Feb. 1896, it was delivered by Samuel Timmins into the hands of George Tangye; but it is not known how or when Timmins acquired these records. Tangye added them to the Boulton & Watt Collection, which he had acquired the previous year. However, after the records came to the library, the main body of what remains of the letter book (pages 454 to 563 ) was moved to the Matthew Boulton Papers, a single sheet remaining in the Boulton & Watt Collection. The main portion comprises pages 454 to 563, but pages 464 to 469 have been torn out. The last of these pages (p. 563) appears to mark the end of the original volume. The single sheet which remained in the Boulton & Watt Collection is now pages 452-3; its original page numbers are missing, but it appears, from the dates of the copy-letters on it, to precede immediately the rest of the surviving document.
A copy of a letter to William Matthews, issued for Boulton & Scale by James Bennett, 11 June 1789, will be found in Matthew Boulton’s "William Matthews" file.
The two miscellaneous papers were found among the James Alston material that the Assay Office assembled – it is presumed that they were part of Boulton & Scale’s records. |