Matthew Boulton

Matthew Boulton, entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution, is buried at St Mary's, Handsworth near Birmingham.

Memorial 

On 17th October 2014 a cast iron floor stone was unveiled to his memory in St Paul's chapel in Westminster Abbey. This is where the large statue of his business partner James Watt, the famous engineer, was originally sited (the statue has been removed but a stone on the floor records the inscription that was on it). The memorial, by Gary Breeze, reads:

MATTHEW BOULTON FRS 1728-1809 PIONEER OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

His life

He was born on 14th September 1728 in Birmingham, a son of Matthew, toy and buckle manufacturer, and his wife Christiana (Piers). Later he joined his father's firm, where they also made gold and silver items. In 1756 he married Mary Robinson but she died a few years later. His second wife was Anne, Mary's sister, and they had two children Anne (unmarried) and Matthew (who married Mary Anne Wilkinson and had seven children).

The Lunar Society, of which he was a founder member, met at his house and James Watt joined them. Boulton had multiple interests including astronomy and chemistry and he had invented a steam engine. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He also ran the Soho mint to supply copper coinage to the government and was an investor in canals and a benefactor in the local community. Boulton and Watt steam engines powered much of the industrial revolution at home and abroad. He died at Soho House, Handsworth on 17th August 1809, and is buried in the parish church.

Further reading

"Matthew Boulton" by H.W. Dickinson, 1937

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004

"Matthew Boulton - selling what all the world desires" edited by Shena Mason (exhibition catalogue) 2009

The world's oldest working steam engine is at the Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum