The Boultons on the Farm
|
Like many wealthy industrialists, Matthew Boulton and his son
Matthew Robinson Boulton owned extensive rural estates, and farming
became a significant part of their business. |
Local land was directly managed from
Soho House, but farms further away were rented out, including those
near Lichfield. In 1793 Boulton bought land at Money Bag Hill, near
Soho. He used it mainly for growing potatoes. As potatoes had only
been grown for sale in England since 1770 they fetched a high price.
Such valuable crops were targeted by thieves, so watchmen were hired.
Thomas Casady earned 12 shillings a week in 1794 for weeding by day
and watching potatoes by night.
|
 |
Matthew Robinson Boulton bought the
Great Tew estate in Oxfordshire in 1816. The farms there were used
for growing wheat, barley, oats, peas, turnips and beans, and supported
sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens.
| Design
for a Machine for Sowing Turnip Seed and Bone Dust, made by
Boulton Watt & Co, 1841 |
|
 |
Matthew Robinson Boulton experimented with farm machinery at Great
Tew, using Soho’s engine business to make parts. His machines for
sowing seeds and grinding bones to make meal for manure so impressed
his friend Charles H. Turner that he ordered similar ones for his
estate in Surrey.
|
|
Above: Plan of the Money Bag Hill farmland bought by Matthew Boulton |
 |
