MATTHEW BOULTON AND THE SOHO MINT: COPPER TO CUSTOMER by SUE TUNGATE A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Modern History College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham October 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) is well known as an eighteenth-century industrialist, the founder of Soho Manufactory and the steam-engine business of Boulton and Watt. Less well known are his scientific and technical abilities in the field of metallurgy and coining, and his role in setting up the Soho Mint. The intention of this thesis is to focus on the coining activities of Matthew Boulton from 1787 until 1809, and to examine the key role he played in the modernisation of money. It is the result of an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded collaboration with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where, after examination of their extensive collection of coins, medals, tokens and dies produced at the Soho Mint, .research was used to produce a catalogue. A close visual study of the artefacts has been combined with evidence from contemporary archival material, and information from secondary sources, to provide a synthesis of the processes involved in making coins, and Matthew Boulton’s working practices in the eighteenth century. The thesis describes processes involved in making the 600 million coins, medals and tokens made at Soho Mint during Boulton’s lifetime. Chapter one briefly discusses his eighteenth-century background and the reasons for setting up the Soho Mint. In chapter two Boulton’s involvement in the copper and iron industries are discussed, including the importance of his contributions to both industries. He needed large amounts of copper and specialized iron products such as steel to make his coins at Soho Mint. In chapter three the technical aspects of minting are discussed, including Boulton and his team’s contribution to developing new techniques. The final chapter details how materials and products were transported, commissioned, and designed. The second half of the thesis is a sample catalogue of items produced at the Soho Mint prior to Boulton’s death in 1809. Fuller catalogues of Soho Mint products have been produced for several institutions as a result of this research, for use by museum curators, historians and professional and amateur numismatists. Only a selection of this aspect of the research is included, because of the word limitations for PhD theses. If the life of Matthew Boulton can teach us anything, surely it is that openness to new ideas, and determination to pursue a vision, are what move our world forward.1 Matthew Boulton by Lemuel Francis Abbott2 1 Foreward by M. Whitby in: S. Mason (ed.) (2009) Matthew Boulton: Selling What All The World Desires Yale University Press, London and New Haven 2 Portrait of Matthew Boulton c 1798-1801 Lemuel Francis Abbott BMAG 1908P20 Oil on canvas 74 x 62cm. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly I would like to thank my husband Garry Tungate, for his encouragement and his help. I am also very grateful to my son David and my daughter Wendy for persuading me to apply for a Ph D in the first place. I am indebted to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the Collaborative Award which funded this research. It offered me the opportunity to be involved in activities associated with Matthew Boulton’s bicentenary celebrations in 2009, including an international conference, and exhibitions at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG), and at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. I was able to work with a wonderful group of individuals, who are also passionate about the interlinking yet different aspects of Boulton’s work. In particular I would like to thank Dr David Symons for all his support in cataloguing the BMAG collection, and Dr Sally Baggott for allowing me to view the Assay Office collection of Soho Mint products, and both for loans for the Boulton Exhibition at the Barber Institute. Dr Baggott was particularly helpful in reading through the final drafts of this thesis. I have also found the advice of Dr Eurydice Georganteli very informative in the final stages of writing up. Dr Richard Clay was very generous with his time, and I am grateful to him for the opportunity to co-curate an exhibition Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money at the Barber Institute for Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. I would also like to thank the staff of the Barber Institute for their help. Thanks too, to Professor Peter Jones for providing me with information relevant to my research. Thanks also to the following: The staff of Birmingham Archives and Heritage, in particular Dr Sian Roberts, Fiona Tait, Alison Smith, Rachel Macgregor, Alison Laitner and Angela Skitt Lucy Blakeman for her help in putting information onto the Minisis system at BMAG Dr Kevin Clancy for arranging a visit to the Royal Mint. Llantrisant Jon Clatworthy Lapworth Museum for providing images of William Murdoch’s mineral collection Laura Cox and Annette French, Curators, Soho House, Birmingham for access to the Soho Mint items on display there. John Doran, former Curator, Avery Historical Weighing Museum, Birmingham for allowing me to see the Soho dies and medals held there Dr Catherine Eagleton of the British Museum for help and for loan of material for the Boulton exhibition at the Barber Institute Dr Jack Kirby for allowing me to view the dies and various other Soho items at Think- tank, Birmingham. Dr Peter Northover for allowing me to visit his laboratory at Department of Materials, University of Oxford, and for providing me with copies of various theses. .David Vice for a copy of his forthcoming publication on Soho Mint Thanks to the following for various translations. Arabic: Salach Baban French and Portuguese: Barbara and David Forbes Hindi and Urdu: Nina Soni Italian: Nadia Macis-Amos Latin: Tom Freeman Spanish: Mirin Jones Persian: Abdulmonem Alshino Russian: Lydia Baban Sanskrit: Arundhati Virmani Welsh: Goronwy Tudor Jones I would like to thank also Connie Wan, Val Loggie and Laura MacCulloch for sharing the Collaborative PhD experience and for their friendship. ABBREVIATIONS: Assay Office = The Birmingham Assay Office, Newhall Street, Birmingham B3 Avery = Avery Historical Museum, Avery Weigh-Tronix, Foundry Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands B66 2LP BA&H = Birmingham Archives and Heritage, Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ All MS references are from this archive. BMAG = Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH British Museum = Coin and Medal Collection, British Museum, Great Russell Street London WC1B D&H = R.Dalton and S.H. Hamer (1910-1915) The Provincial Token-Coinage of the eighteenth Century Illustrated Volume 1-3 Eimer = Christopher Eimer (1987) British Commemorative Medals and their Values Seaby, London ESC = H.A. Seaby and P.A. Rayner (1949; 3rd edn 1968) The English Silver Coinage from 1649 B.A. Seaby Publications Margolis = Richard Margolis (1988) Matthew Boulton’s French Ventures of 1791 and 1792: Tokens for the Monneron Frères of Paris and Isle de France British Numismatic Journal Volume 58, p 102-109 MB = Matthew Boulton MRB = Matthew Robinson Boulton Peck = Charles Wilson Peck (1970) Copper Coins of George III from English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum 1558-1958 Trustees of the British Museum, London Pollard = J.G.Pollard (1970) Matthew Boulton and Conrad Heinrich Kuchler The Numismatic Chronicle Volume X p 259-318 (published by the Royal Numismatic Society, London Pridmore = F. Pridmore (1962) The Coins of the British Commonwealth of Nations Part 2: Asian Territories and F. Pridmore (1975) Part 4 India: Volume 1 East India Company Presidency Series c 1642-1835 Spink and Son Think Tank = Think Tank (Birmingham Science Museum), Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7XG TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction pp. 1-17 Methodology p. 9 Chapter One: Matthew Boulton and Coining pp. 18-38 Matthew Boulton p. 18 Coining p. 21 When and why did Matthew Boulton involve himself in coining? p. 29 Was the Soho Mint a viable concern? p. 35 Chapter Two: Copper and Steel pp. 39-98 Mining copper p. 44 Smelting process p. 53 Smelting copper p. 55 Steel p. 61 Types of copper p. 66 Coining the copper p. 69 Organisation of the metal industries p. 70 Importance of Anglesey in the Copper Trade p. 72 Boulton and Williams p. 73 Cornish Metal Company p. 75 Regal coinage p. 85 Buying copper for Soho Mint p. 87 Summary to chapter two p. 97 Chapter Three: The Technology of Coining pp. 99-184 Comparison with Europe p. 105 Espionage p. 107 The Technology of coining p. 112 Boulton and coinage p. 116 Boulton’s Mint p. 119 Processes used at the Soho Mint p. 128 Rolling metal p. 130 Size of coins p. 136 Blank cutting p. 142 Die making p. 148 Reducing machine p. 168 Soho Mint coining machinery p. 169 How the steam-powered coining press worked p. 170 Summary to chapter three p. 183 Chapter Four: Transport, Customers and Design pp. 185-251 Transport p. 187 Problems of Transport p.