| Description | This file does not appear in the Inventory compiled by Cheshire at the time of his departure from Soho on 15 Feb. 1812, perhaps because it had been passed to William D. Brown to be kept at hand for reference. Under M. R. Boulton’s later arrangement the file was put into Box D. III, and it was probably in the same place when it arrived at the Assay Office in 1921. The wrapper of the file has not survived.
The contents of the file were formerly divided into several packets, the documents being grouped alphabetically by the first letter of the correspondent’s name, and each packet containing both Letters and Copies. This arrangement is preserved in the following list. Within the several groups the documents are arranged in chronological order. Some of these packets are not present, as there are Letters and/or Copies only for A, B, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, U, V, and W.
The original of Cheshire’s letters to M. R. Boulton, 6 Mar., 13 Mar., 22/23 Mar., are among M. R. Boulton’s papers.
In the following List the copy documents are all press-copies. Cheshire wrote many of his letters to the London agent John Woodward from the Mint Office at Soho Manufactory, but as the letters dealt with household matters they were placed with the household correspondence. Many of the letters concern Matthew Boulton’s serious illness at the beginning of the year. |