Soho - The Engine of the World
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Soho, the site of Matthew Boulton's Manufactory and his elegant home, the place where Boulton and James Watt produced the steam engines that revolutionised industry, is inseparable from Birmingham's, and indeed Britain's, industrial past.
From the 1760s to the end of the engine firm in 1895, Soho was the centre of a commercial and intellectual web across the globe.
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Left: Soho Manufactory shown
as a source of 'great blessings' |
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Boulton sold ormolu and silverware throughout Europe, as far as the Russian court. Watt corresponded with Europe's leading scientists. Their sons were partly educated abroad. Workers from Soho travelled, raised families, and often died abroad.
Their steam engines and mints were sent to Europe, Asia, and the Americas.Boats powered by Boulton & Watt engines plied the rivers and lakes of Central Europe, and international politics directly affected Soho's trade.
Right: Designs for ormolu clocks made by Matthew Boulton |
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The Archives of Soho Project has catalogued the records of the Boulton and Watt families and their businesses, bringing to light dozens of stories of Soho's contacts with the wider world.
This exhibition presents some of these stories, to illuminate the truly international stage on which Matthew Boulton and James Watt stood
| Left: The Danube boat Archduke Lewis and its enguines, 1840 |
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| The Archives of Soho, held by Birmingham City Archives, have been catalogued by the Archives of Soho Project. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Assay Office Charitable Trust. |
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