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INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Four Parts 3 and 4 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Four: Sources from the Record Offices in the United Kingdom Part 3: The Papers of James Watt (1736-1819) and James Watt, jnr (1769-1848) from the James Patrick Muirhead Collection, at Glasgow University Library Part 4: The Darby Family, Coalbrookdale Estate and the Iron Bridge - sources from Shropshire Archives Contents listing PUBLISHER'S NOTE - Part 3 CONTENTS OF REELS - Part 3 PUBLISHER'S NOTE - Part 4 CONTENTS OF REELS - Part 4 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Four Parts 3 and 4 Publisher's Note - Part 3 James Patrick Muirhead is remembered as the biographer of the engineer and scientist James Watt senior, leading member of the Lunar Society and key figure of the Industrial Revolution. For Victorian and later writers the Watt steam engine became synonymous with industrial growth and progress in Britain. Today Muirhead’s biographies remain the major source for scholars of James Watt, his life and achievements. Muirhead was born in Lanarkshire in 1813 the son of Lockhart Muirhead who was principle librarian and regius professor of natural history in Glasgow University. His maternal grandmother was the first cousin of James Watt. Muirhead was educated in Glasgow College and later Balliol College, Oxford, practising law in Edinburgh for eight years before moving to Haseley Court in Oxfordshire. In 1844 Muirhead married Katharine Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Robinson Boulton and granddaughter of Matthew Boulton, the manufacturer and entrepreneur. During his time at Oxford Muirhead became acquainted with James Watt, jnr who later requested Muirhead to write the memoir of his father. In 1854 Muirhead published The Origins and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt. The first volume contains a detailed biography and a selection of Watt’s correspondence illustrating his achievements. The second volume continues the correspondence and the third contains the full texts and drawings of all Watt’s patents, including excerpts from the patent trials of the 1790s. Later, in 1858 Muirhead published an abbreviated edition The Life of James Watt with Selections from his Correspondence. While the collection as a whole is described as papers relating to the Muirhead family, the bulk of the material is connected with Muirhead’s biographies of Watt. Papers concerning the biography include: c.900 letters between James Watt, jnr and Muirhead, 1834-1847 letters and papers about James Watt, c.1816-65 items for the printing and sales of James Watt’s biography, c.1858-60 papers concerning the Great Eastern steamship, 1859 the Soho engine works, 1859 letters to Muirhead concerning Watt’s biography, 1858-9 letters from Muirhead to Rev Napier, 1855-71 Items relating to the Muirhead family include: diary of a Voyage to Sicily, 1793, and journals of other journeys in France and Italy by James Watt, jnr Muirhead’s translation of D F J Arago’s Historical Eloge of James Watt (1834), being the first biography of Watt: published in 1839 papers concerning the funeral of Matthew Boulton, 1842 In addition, to complement and broaden the understanding of the manuscript collection we include a selection of Muirhead’s published works on James Watt. These include: The Origin and the Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt (1854) Life of James Watt with Selections from his Correspondence (1858) The James Patrick Muirhead collection contains valuable material for those studying the development and growth of the Industrial Revolution through the lives and achievements of James Watt and James Watt, jnr. <back INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Four Parts 3 and 4 Contents of Reels - Part 3 REEL 1 MS Gen 1354/22 Voyage in Sicily, 1793, and journals of other journeys in France and Italy, by James Watt, jnr MS Gen 1354/23 J P Muirhead’s fair copy of his translation of M Arago’s Eloge of James Watt, 28-31 August 1839 MS Gen 1354/24 Funeral procession of the late M R Boulton, May 27 1842 MS Gen 1354/25-66 Forty-one letters from Lockhart Muirhead to his wife, 1805-1819. One letter from Lockhart Muirhead to his son, 1820 MS Gen 1354/67-90 Miscellaneous letters, Nov 1806 - Feb 1858 MS Gen 1354/91-133 Twenty-two letters from J P Muirhead to Thomas Jones Wilkinson, 1847-1852. One letter from Samuel Smiles to J P Muirhead, 4 Jan 1858 REEL 2 MS Gen 1354/134-210 Letters of acknowledgment for copies of the correspondence of Watt, 1846-1847 MS Gen 1354/211-264 Correspondence concerning George Wilson’s article for the Edinburgh Review REEL 3 MS Gen 1354/265-336 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, Jan 1833 - Sept 1839 MS Gen 1354/337-398 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, Oct 1839 REEL 4 MS Gen 1354/399-459 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, Nov - Dec 1839 MS Gen 1354/460-518 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, 1840 REEL 5 MS Gen 1354/519-611 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, 1841-1842 MS Gen 1354/612-726 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, 1843 REEL 6 MS Gen 1354/727-767 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, 1844 MS Gen 1354/768-884 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, 1845 REEL 7 MS Gen 1354/885-976 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, Jan - May 1846 MS Gen 1354/977-1034 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, June - Sept 1846 REEL 8 MS Gen 1354/1035-1091 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, Oct - Dec 1846 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Four Parts 3 and 4 MS Gen 1354/1092-1169 Correspondence between James Watt, jnr and James Patrick Muirhead, 1847 MS Gen 1354/1170-1198 Miscellaneous letters, 1840-1847 REEL 9 MS Gen 1354/1199-1293 Correspondence concerning publication of Life of Watt, etc, 1858-1865 MS Gen 1354/1294-1402 Letters from J P Muirhead to H A Napier, 1855-1871 MR 47/6 Letter from James Watt to William Meikleham, Birmingham, 17 May 1810 MS Cullen 574/11 Notes entitled “Ex[tract]s from Mr Watt’s letter to Dr Brewster on the origin of his improvements on the steam-engine.” With miscellaneous notes for material medica, 18-- REEL 10 GUL: U12-f.14 Historical Eloge of James Watt by M Arago translated by James Patrick Muirhead, with additional notes and an appendix. Edition / Year: First Ed, 1839 REEL 11 GUL: Store HQ00226-228 The Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt, illustrated by his correspondence with his friends and the specifications of his patents by James Patrick Muirhead. Edition / Year: First Ed, 1854, 3 volumes. REEL 12 GUL: U12-a.4 The Life of James Watt, with selections from his correspondence by James Patrick Muirhead. Edition / Year: First Ed, 1858 <back INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Four Parts 3 and 4 Publisher's Note - Part 4 Coalbrookdale has been described as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution because it was here that the Darby family pioneered the world’s first successful coke-fired blast furnaces. They produced cast iron in vast quantities making it thinner and cheaper than had previously been possible and opening it up to a wide range of applications. Their cast iron spanned the country in the form of railroad tracks. It was used in textile mills to replace the combustible wood of earlier frames. It was used by Boulton & Watt and other engineering companies to build the industrial machinery of the age. It was also used to create the iconic Iron Bridge across the River Severn at Coalbrookdale – the world’s first cast iron bridge. This transformed the landscape – and nowhere was this more evident than at the place of production. Philip James de Loutherbourg’s painting of Coalbrookdale at night (1801), is one of the great images of the Industrial Revolution, showing what had once been an idyllic landscape, with carthorses and a human figure in the foreground, now dominated by the red incandescent furnaces creating a vision of Hell on Earth. In this part we offer access to a cluster of collections from the Shropshire archives describing the activities of successive generations of the Darby family of Coalbrookdale, ironmasters of the Industrial Revolution. The Papers of the Coalbrookdale Company contain items relating to the management of the company, including observations, memorandums, correspondence, reports, resolutions, articles of agreement and bonds. There are calculations of the amount of iron needed for various jobs, and lists of subscribers for projects undertaken. There are production figures for Ketley, Horsehay and Dawley Castle furnaces, 1799, and a memorandum of the final adjustment and dissolution of the co-partnership of the Coalbrookdale, Horsehay and Ketley concerns following the death of Abraham Darby III, c.1796. The Archives of the Iron Bridge include the Minute Book of the Trustees of the intended iron bridge between Madeley Wood and Benthall, 1775-1798, written in a clear legible handwriting (Abraham Darby III?). Other items are: Assignment and Transfer of Shares 1779-1945; Book of Certificates of the Iron Bridge Trust 1892-1948; Ten original share certificates on vellum; Account Book May 1831-Dec 1841; Account Book Dec 1841-June 1861; Accounts of dividends paid to the proprietors of the Iron Bridge 1st June 1827-Dec 1842; Minute Book of the Trustees of the Iron Bridge June 1800-Dec 1828; Minute Book of the Trustees of the Iron Bridge 1830-1861.
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