Boulton and Watt

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Boulton and Watt built 496 steam engines in the twenty-five years between 1775 and 1800. Each one ran on a design that was more fuel-efficient than anything that had come before. The firm was a partnership formed near Birmingham, in the English West Midlands. It joined an English manufacturer named Matthew Boulton with a Scottish engineer named James Watt. Together they played a central role in Britain's Industrial Revolution. What made their engine so different from earlier designs? Who provided the financial backing when the firm needed it most? And who were the young engineers trained in those workshops who took the steam age forward?

  123

• 2. The Separate Condenser

  ›

  James Watt's patent protected a specific engineering principle: condensation of steam happened in a vessel kept entirely separate from the working cylinder. The older Newcomen engine managed no such separation. Its cylinder was heated and cooled on every stroke, burning far more fuel than necessary. Watt's design broke that cycle.

  The firm set up its first workshops at the Soho Manufactory. That building sat near Boulton's own residence, Soho House, on the southern edge of the then-rural parish of Handsworth. In those early years, the firm relied on outside suppliers for most of its engine components. The cylinders, for instance, were made by John Wilkinson. John Wilkinson was one of several suppliers whose work the firm depended on across its first twenty years.

  134

• 3. A New Foundry

  ›

  In 1795, the firm opened the Soho Foundry in Smethwick, near Birmingham. From that site, Boulton and Watt could manufacture steam engines entirely under their own roof. Ownership passed to the next generation in 1800, when the founding partners handed the business to two of their sons.

  William Murdoch was made a partner in 1810. He remained with the firm for two decades before retiring at the age of 76. The company name was changed to James Watt and Co. in 1849. Steam engine production continued, and the firm was still making engines in 1895, when it was sold to W and T Avery Ltd. By that point, the business had been in operation for more than one hundred and twenty years.

  136

• 4. Charlotte Matthews

  ›

  Charlotte Matthews served as the London banker for Boulton and Watt for ten years, beginning after her husband died in 1792. A woman holding that role was unusual by the standards of the time.

  Matthews did not keep herself at arm's length. She became a close confidante of Matthew Boulton, and the two are recorded as having spent time together on holidays. Financially, her contribution was large; she lent enormous sums to fund the firm's endeavours.

  Matthews died in 1802, aged 43. The Boulton and Watt families took over the running of her banking business after her death.

  31

• 5. A Training Ground

  ›

  Among the young engineers trained at Boulton and Watt in the eighteenth century, several went on to achieve notability in their fields. Eight of them are known by name. They were James Law, Peter Ewart, William Brunton, Isaac Perrins, William Murdoch, James Watt Jr., William Playfair, and John Southern.

  Samuel Clegg and Logan Henderson are also recorded among the notable individuals associated with the firm. The firm left an extremely detailed archive of its activities, and it is that record which preserves these names today.

  13

• 6. What Endures

  ›

  In 1911, the firm's archive was given to the city of Birmingham, where it is now kept at the Library of Birmingham. An additional donation in 2015 brought a thesis into the collection. The folders contain text documents and a range of technical drawings.

  The Smethwick Engine, manufactured in 1779, is on display at Thinktank, Birmingham's Science Museum. The Whitbread Engine, made in 1785, stands at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, with a bore of 25 inches and a stroke of 72 inches. At Crofton Pumping Station, an engine from 1812 survives with a stroke of 84 inches. The Kew Bridge Steam Museum holds one from 1820, with a 64-inch bore and a 96-inch stroke.

  The pair at Papplewick Pumping Station, built in 1884, have a 46-inch bore and a 90-inch stroke. They are believed to be the last engines the company ever produced. The Papplewick pair came just eleven years before the firm was sold to W and T Avery Ltd.

  156