Anthony Burton

Jennifer Tann

Matthew Boulton, of the famous Boulton & Watt steam engine partnership, was an eighteenth-century designer and inventor. Before he partnered up with James Watt he was a successful industrialist manufacturing a range of silver and plated goods, buttons and buckles, and the sort of knickknackery known at the time as ‘toys’. He had a business network throughout continental Europe with travelling agents who represented his various interests. Without his commercial skills, Watt would probably have failed to bring his steam engine to market, but in due course Boulton started the process that would revolutionise the world of industry and transport: the engine was exported all over the world. Boulton was an affable man who enjoyed company and creative conversation. He was also a founder member of the Lunar Society and became a fellow of the Royal Society. This exciting new book, the first full-length biography of Matthew Boulton since H.W. Dickinson’s excellent publication in 1937, is the culmination of twenty years’ original research and brings to life one of the most colourful characters of the Industrial Revolution.

Industry's Great Innovator

Matthew Boulton

In the woollen industry’s heyday Gloucestershire had over 200 mills, producing cloth which was transported to markets all over the world: to Europe, Hudson’s Bay, India; it clothed the British Army and was used for coronations and even the Pope’s robes. The author’s previous and much-consulted work, Gloucestershire Woollen Mills, has long been out of print, making the time ripe for a fresh appraisal of this fascinating period in history. Wool & Water traces the origins of the water-powered industry from the late twelfth century to its demise, with two mills remaining in the twentieth century. Themes discussed include the organisation of the ‘domestic’ industry until the mid-eighteenth century; the development of the factory; fluctuations in trade and, finally, competition from Yorkshire. Containing previously unpublished material and unique illustrations from private collections, plus a comprehensive gazetteer of the county’s textile mill sites, Wool & Water is the ideal book for those interested in the industrial heritage of Gloucestershire.

Jennifer Tann

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