History.
From about 1768 Matthew Boulton and the firms at Soho used William Matthews as their London banker and agent. When Matthews died in 1792, the business was continued by his widow, Charlotte, and in 1795 she moved from her previous premises at 6 Green Lettice Lane to 13 London Street, Fenchurch Street.
On Mrs. Matthews’ death in 1802, the banking house was continued, at the same premises, by the new firm of M. & R. Boulton, J. & G. Watt, & Company. Two-thirds of this concern were held by Matthew Boulton and his son, the remaining third by James Watt Jr. and Gregory Watt in equal shares. The new firm appointed Mrs. Matthews’ two clerks, John Woodward and John Mosley, to act as agents for them in London, but the accounts were to be checked at Soho by William D. Brown. This plan was apparently welcome enough to the agents, for Woodward wrote to Boulton: "I rejoice that you have appointed Mr. Brown to inspect our accounts and to correspond with us, because I know he is very accurate, observant, and well informed, and will always be at hand." In order that Brown might be able to carry out this task, the agents sent him from time to time duplicates (or, more commonly, transcripts) of their accounts, and it is chiefly due to this procedure that records of the business have been preserved.
Besides the partners cited above, there may have been other men working for the firm who were also known as "partners." On 22 Jun. 1802, Woodward recorded that "Mr. Cornwall, one of the junior partners in our Banking House, died yesterday after a tedious illness" (though this may be a reference to the Mr. Cornwall who was a partner in the firm of Down & Co., with whom the London Street firm kept an account). Woodward himself seems to have had hopes of becoming a partner, for in 1803, when writing of his imminent marriage, he refers to a frustrated hope "that I should have been able in the course of the present year to have effected my stipulated partnership with the firm."
When Gregory Watt died, 16 Oct. 1804, his share devolved to his brother, who thus became the holder of a third of the concern. However, Gregory’s initial was retained in the firm’s name for several months after his death-at least till 19 Feb. 1805, but no later than 9 Apr. the same year, when the firm became M. & R. Boulton, J. Watt, & Company. On the death of Matthew Boulton, 17 Aug. 1809, his share fell to his son and the name of the firm was altered to M. R. Boulton, J. Watt, & Company, Matthew Robinson Boulton holding two-thirds and James Watt Jr. a third part. This firm was continued till the year 1832, when an account was opened with the Bank of England in the name of M. R. Boulton & J. Watt. This firm was dissolved 30 Sep. 1840. The records listed here, however, only continue to the year 1819.
Records.
As has already been noted, when the London banking house was established under the firm of M. & R. Boulton, J. & G. Watt, & Co., William D. Brown of Soho was appointed to check its accounts. The records that survive are entirely those made or retained by him. None of the firm’s books exist, neither the originals nor the duplicates.
The extant records fall into two groups: first, Advices, or letters from the agents, chiefly containing transcripts of the London House’s books; and secondly, account books, compiled by Brown himself from information sent to him from London.
The records known to have been kept in London are as follows: a Cash Book, a Banker’s Book, a Bill Book, and a duplicate Bill Book. Transcripts of the entries in the original cash book were contained in the "Accounts" advices sent to Soho (see below), and Brown presumably compiled his own Cash Book from these. On the Debtor side were entered sums of money received by the London House to be paid into the accounts of their clients, each receipt being recorded as a debt to that particular account. Likewise, on the Creditor side were entered sums paid by the London House to be charged against the clients’ accounts, each payment being recorded as a credit to the corresponding account.
On 13 Feb. 1802, Woodward wrote to Brown : "the duplicate Account book of bills to pay and receive that [I] sent you last week be pleased to send me back soon as convenient." This was presumably identical with the "book containing the Accounts of bills to pay and receive" sent to Brown by Woodward on 20 Feb. Woodward’s letter of the 25th refers to this as "my book (A) of Accounts of bills to pay and receive." As a "duplicate" bill book was kept, there was evidently also an original bill book. Transcripts of the entries in this book were contained in the "Bills" advices sent to Soho, and Brown’s Bill Book was presumably compiled either from these or from the duplicate bill book.
Also kept at London was a Banker’s Book, containing a record of the London House’s account with Down & Company, their own bankers. A book of this name (not, apparently, a duplicate) was sent by Woodward to Brown on 20 Feb. 1809, and is referred to by him on the 25th. Perhaps it was normally kept at the bankers’ premises, as on one occasion Woodward remarked that "This day [1 Jun. 1802] being close holiday the banking houses are shut and I cannot procure the Banker’s Book." Transcripts of the entries in this book were contained in the Accounts advices sent to Soho (see below).
As noted already, transcripts of the firm’s account books were sent from time to time to William D. Brown at Soho. These transcripts took the form of letters from the agents, commonly referred to as Advices. The sending of these advices appears to have been discontinued in Nov. 1819. They are arranged in two series-one ("Accounts") for the transcripts of the Cash and Banker’s Books, and another ("Bills") for the transcripts of the firm’s Bill Book. Besides transcripts of accounts, the early advices in the Bills series occasionally contain remarks about the firm’s business and related subjects-indeed, the first twenty or so are simply general letters from Woodward to Brown or press copies of Brown’s replies. Once Brown had finished with the advices, he neatly folded and carefully docketed each one, and arranged each year’s advices in two piles, one for each kind. For the years from 1802 to 1808 the two piles were bundled separately, apparently without labels. After that period the two piles were placed back to back to form a single bundle. These later bundles occasionally have labels, one at one end marked "Accounts" and another at the other end marked "Bills." For the sake of simplicity the two parts of these compound bundles have now been separated and placed in the appropriate series. The "Accounts" advices for 1810 (the year of John Woodward’s death) include, besides the normal advices, two accounts of Stock Receipts and an account headed "M. R. Boulton, J. Watt and Co.", all in Brown’s handwriting.
Business.
The main business of the Banking House was to operate drawing accounts for Matthew Boulton and his firms, and a few other related concerns. These are the accounts referred to in 1802 :
M. Boulton, Private.
M. Boulton, B/a [Bill account] or Warehouse.
M. Boulton & Plate Co.
M. Boulton, Coinage.
Boulton, Watt, & Co.
James Watt & Co.
Boulton & Smiths.
Boulton & Smith.
R. Boulton.
Boulton, Walkers, & Collins.
R. Chippindall.
F. Eginton.
Rose Copper Co.
Payments were made into the accounts in various ways, for instance:
(a) Cash. These may refer to occasions when a person actually handed over money at the bank. E.g.
1802, Jan. 26 To R. Chippindal recd. of him Cash 120 10 9
(b) A bill payable to the client. Bills were usually dispatched to the Banking House by the post. E.g.
1802, Jan. 26 To M Boulton p/a recd. per bill on Palmers due 1st Feby. 3695 10 9
(c) A dividend upon an investment made by the bank on the client’s behalf. E.g.
1802, Jan. 26 To Boulton Watt & Co recd. divd. on £3000 3 per Ct. Cons. 45 - -
(d) There are also payments described as "remittances". I do not yet know what kind of payments these are. E.g.
1802, Jan. 29 To M Boulton Coin/a recd. remittance of W D Brown 60 7 9
These payments were often paid directly by the bank into their account with their own bankers, Down and Company.
When the holder of account drew a bill upon the bank, he would normally write a letter to advise the firm of this fact. Matthew Boulton’s bills drawn upon the firm were numbered consecutively, and probably those of other account-holders were too.
Besides running these drawing accounts, the bank also purchased stock on its client’s behalf. On 9 Feb. 1802 William D. Brown sent a draft (i.e. a cheque) dated the 11th, on Down & Co. for £4000, to be expended on stock in the names of the partners. Woodward duly bought £6000 3 per cent consols (viz. 3000 at 69 1/9, and 3000 at 69 3/8), the cost of which (with brokerage) came to £4166 5s. 0d. The Cash Account was made a creditor in this amount to a new account named "3 Per Ct. Consols."