James Watt was a Scot, born in Greenock in January 1736. His father was a skilled carpenter employing quite a number of people working mainly on ships. He was successful and respected; he owned shares in some of the ships he worked on. He married an equally respectable woman. The family story was tragic with three of five children dying in childhood with a further child losing his life on one of his father's ships. This left James as the surviving child.
James was not a strong child and lived his life with extended periods of ill-health. His mother and father taught him at home. When he eventually went to school he did not excel and suffered because of his delicate nature. However he was a wonderful story teller and mastered mathematics. He had played with wood and tools from early childhood and had excellent craft skills.
With this background a career as a mathematical instrument maker beckoned.
I tell of Watt's crucial role in the development of steam power in the context of three places: Glasgow where he started, Falkirk where he nearly succeeded, Birmingham where he found the right partner in Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton was born in 1728 son Matthew Boulton (senior) a silver stamper and piercer based in Birmingham. Matthew (junior) was educated in Deritend until he needed to join his father in the business. In spite of a rudimentary education, Matthew developed a passion for classics and through his work an interest in mechanics and science. In reaching the age of majority, his father took him into partnership and its wasn't long before Matthew was running the business.
Birmingham had many craftsmen like Matthew (senior) making 'toys' objects of delight for the middle classes. Over the years these objects had become increasingly gaudy and Matthew set his sights on producing well made objects of good taste. He invented the inlaid buckle. He worked with Huntsman of Sheffield on steel objects. He explored the work being produced by the French and copied it. He borrowed fine objects and had his craftsmen copy them. He went into clock making achieving success with both design and taste. He was selling to royalty and the aristocracy not only in England but across Europe. The death of his father provided a fine inheritance and a good marriage to Ann Robinson added to this. Samuel Smiles suggests he could have retired.
Matthew Boulton had other ideas; his passion was for business and he needed more space and built the iconic Soho Manufactory (page image with thanks to the Wellcome Collection). In this fine building, getting on for 1,000 craftsmen worked on buttons, clasps, watch chains and metal wares; candle sticks, urns and brackets; clocks and silver plate. It was the workshop of the world. He was a good employer keen to offer opportunity to young men of poor backgrounds. As I tell in my blog on London, he opened an outlet in Inner London as did his friend Josiah Wedgwood who produced in ceramics beautiful objects which would sit well alongside the Soho production. We do of course not remember Boulton for any of this. It was his championing of James Watt that transformed manufacturing.
The site of the Soho Manufactory had running water sufficient to power two water mills used largely for polishing. However in summer the water levels dropped and alternative horse power had to be found and was never really satisfactory. Boulton explored the inventions of Savery and Newcomen to pump water up to fill ponds to power the mills. The cost proved prohibitive. He then corresponded with Benjamin Franklin and his friend Erasmus Darwin on the design of steam engines. Good fortune led to Dr Roebuck in Falkirk inviting Boulton to invest in the Carron Iron works and this lead to Boulton eventually meeting Watt. They took an instant liking to one another.
I tell of their developing relationship in my blog on Birmingham but more so St Austell and Camborne where Watt struggled for acceptance of his inventions by the stuck in the mud Cornish. Watt also faced endless legal arguments over patents, but with Matthew's support won through. It wasn't only Watt's inventions, the addition of steam power to manufacturing enabled Matthew to take on the Royal Mint in mechanised coin production. Once again the struggle was not technical but for acceptance. Like so many entrepreneurs Matthew struggled as his demand for capital for ever exceeded its supply. His tenacity time and again won the day.
The original partnership of Boulton and Watt was dissolved in 1800 on the expiration of the reciprocating engine patent. James Watt was sixty four and exhausted; Matthew Boulton was eight years older and with ideas still occupying his brain, not least the Soho Mint which was his pride and joy. James Watt enjoyed nearly twenty years of retirement, dying in 1819. Matthew Boulton had died ten years earlier.
James Watt is commemorated through a statue in Westminster Abbey, a seated figure in Glasgow's George Square, and the Watt Memorial Engineering & Navigational School in Greenock. He is buried at St Mary’s Church, Handsworth, Birmingham.
Further reading:
Samuel Smiles, Lives of Boulton and Watt (Stroud: Nonsuch, 2007, first published 1865)
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