This year marks the 200th anniversary of the death of the pioneering industrialist Matthew Boulton (September 14th 1728 to August 17th 1809) whose many achievements helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution and who contributed so much to Birmingham, England and the world.
Born in Birmingham, Matthew Boulton is one of the City’s most famous historical figures. His path-breaking factory in Birmingham (Soho - Handsworth not London!) was one of the wonders of the day. The production methods were so revolutionary that the great Soho Manufactory became a tourist attraction with a teahouse for visitors provided in the grounds.
Boulton was also a founder member of the Lunar Society (meetings were held at full moon for a safer journey home) - a group of natural philosophers and inventors who met at Soho House. As well as figures such as Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles), Joseph Priestley and Josiah Wedgwood, Lunar Society members included Boulton’s partners James Watt of engineering fame and gas pioneer William Murdock.
Together with James Watt, Boulton helped to develop the famous Boulton and Watt steam engines that were four times more efficient than those established by Thomas Newcomen and which gave a massive boost to industrial development.
Products from swords to buttons and including decorative silverware and ormolu were made and sold right around the world. Boulton also developed modern coinage and set up the Soho Mint and the Birmingham Assay Office (which today is still the world’s busiest).
Matthew Boulton - Selling What All The World Desires will be the first of several events in Birmingham celebrating the great industrialist during the year and on Saturday May 30th there will be a special launch event in Chamberlain Square and throughout the Museum and Art Gallery.
One wonders what Matthew Boulton would have made of the current financial and economic crisis. Certainly he would not have been defeated by it and I for one am sure that outsourcing, offshoring and globalisation would not have been part of his solution!
Boulton looked after his workforce, setting up one of the earliest forms of social insurance, paying benefits to sick or injured employees. He also found time for beneficial public work helping to set up the General Hospital and a theatre. Maybe, faced with the attitude of Banks to industry, Boulton would have established his own bank as Birmingham did in Edwardian times and which should, in my view, be re-established today.
The Matthew Boulton exhibition will be opened by the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who for several years was a member of the Economics Department at The University of Birmingham.
Born in Birmingham, Matthew Boulton is one of the City’s most famous historical figures. His path-breaking factory in Birmingham (Soho - Handsworth not London!) was one of the wonders of the day. The production methods were so revolutionary that the great Soho Manufactory became a tourist attraction with a teahouse for visitors provided in the grounds.
Boulton was also a founder member of the Lunar Society (meetings were held at full moon for a safer journey home) - a group of natural philosophers and inventors who met at Soho House. As well as figures such as Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles), Joseph Priestley and Josiah Wedgwood, Lunar Society members included Boulton’s partners James Watt of engineering fame and gas pioneer William Murdock.
Together with James Watt, Boulton helped to develop the famous Boulton and Watt steam engines that were four times more efficient than those established by Thomas Newcomen and which gave a massive boost to industrial development.Products from swords to buttons and including decorative silverware and ormolu were made and sold right around the world. Boulton also developed modern coinage and set up the Soho Mint and the Birmingham Assay Office (which today is still the world’s busiest).
Matthew Boulton - Selling What All The World Desires will be the first of several events in Birmingham celebrating the great industrialist during the year and on Saturday May 30th there will be a special launch event in Chamberlain Square and throughout the Museum and Art Gallery.
One wonders what Matthew Boulton would have made of the current financial and economic crisis. Certainly he would not have been defeated by it and I for one am sure that outsourcing, offshoring and globalisation would not have been part of his solution!
Boulton looked after his workforce, setting up one of the earliest forms of social insurance, paying benefits to sick or injured employees. He also found time for beneficial public work helping to set up the General Hospital and a theatre. Maybe, faced with the attitude of Banks to industry, Boulton would have established his own bank as Birmingham did in Edwardian times and which should, in my view, be re-established today.
The Matthew Boulton exhibition will be opened by the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who for several years was a member of the Economics Department at The University of Birmingham.
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