The records listed under this head relate mainly to the firm of Boulton & Fothergill, but the earliest letter book also contains copies of a few letters of 1757 issued by Matthew Boulton (the elder) & Son; this is apparently the only surviving record of that firm. Much material relating to the firm of Boulton & Fothergill will also be found in Matthew Boulton's papers (MS 3782/12), and firm's surviving pattern books will be found among the Additions (MS 3782/21).
The partnership between Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill began on 24 Jun. 1762 and was dissolved on 22 Jun. 1782, three days after Fothergill's death. Two days later, on the 24th (the intervening day was a Sunday), a new firm was begun in the name of Matthew Boulton, with a new set of books, but the books of Boulton & Fothergill were not finally closed till the end of 1792.
The firm's business comprised various manufactures, which operated more or less as separate departments. The articles manufactured included buttons, buckles, "toys," silver and plated ware, ormolu, clocks, and "mechanical paintings." Occasionally the principal partners were joined by others in particular aspects of the business, and in the late 1760s John Herman Ebbinghaus was a silent partner in the firm as a whole.
The firm operated at two main sites - namely at the manufactory at Soho (in the parish of Handsworth), and at premises in Birmingham. Initially goods were manufactured at both places, but about 1766 it was decided to centralize the manufacturing processes at Soho and keep a warehouse in Birmingham. There are two separate sets of records, comprising in each case accounting records, letter books, and few loose papers. The two sets of accounting records were known respectively as the "Soho Books" and the "Birmingham Books." The records from Soho are chiefly concerned with manufacturing operations, and the corresponding ledger contains accounts for suppliers, employees, and materials, as well as Matthew Boulton's tenants. The Birmingham account books contained customers' accounts and the main Cash account, but unfortunately none of the main Birmingham Books survive.
Records of Soho Manufactory.
Only one Soho account book survives from the firm's first decade - a petty cash book (see below). With this sole exception, all the surviving books were kept by James Pearson, who succeeded John Scale as the chief cashier and bookkeeper on 1 Jan. 1776 and kept the books till they were closed. Pearson began most of the books anew, but continued at least one old one, the cash debtor book, and the early portion of that book, which was started in 1772, is the sole remnant of Scale's books.
The following description of the accounting system at Soho has been deduced from the surviving books. The central books of the system were, as usual, the Ledger and Journal, and these are complete from 1776 to 1792. The ledger contains nominal accounts for stock, cash, sales, wages, profit and loss, buildings, rents and repairs, materials, and so on, accounts for the various manufactures operating under the name of Boulton & Fothergill, and personal accounts for suppliers, tenants, employees, and other Soho firms. In the journal transactions posted from various sources were recorded with reference to the accounts in the ledger. These sources included the following books, kept by the chief cashier.
The Day Book is a day-to-day record of goods dispatched to customers, with the amounts charged. Entries appear to have been made at the time of dispatch, and they often record the means of transportation and how the invoice was sent. Only the book for the period 1779-1781 survives.
The Cash Debtor Book, or Book of Goods Sold, is a record of cash received by the cashier for goods sold, rents, &c. The surviving volume covers the period from 1772 to 1782. The entries for the period from 18 Apr. 1772 to 6 Apr. 1775 are in a paper-covered book stitched inside the front cover, with the following explanatory note: "When I went to London, the book of goods sold lay on the new shelf in the accounting house, but cou'd not find it when I came back. When I went, I gave Mr. Cabrit the bill book, and shew'd him the other on the shelf."
Also kept, but no longer extant, were a Cash Creditor Book, or Cash Book, in which were recorded the various sums paid out by the cashier for workmen's wages and sundry other expenses, and a Bill Book, a record of the bills drawn at Soho.
The place of the early Petty Cash Book in the bookkeeping system is unclear, as no other books survive from the same period. It is a record of "Cash paid Workmen and Petties" and (from 5 Nov. 1763) Cash Received. Compare the similar book kept at Birmingham.
As well as the books kept by the chief cashier, other books were kept in the several departments of manufacture, though none survive (unless the account of Francis Eginton preserved at the front of the M. Boulton Order Book, 1787-1789, is an example). Entries in the journal suggest that the smaller departments kept only one book each, containing information about their respective ledger accounts. The following entries are among those made under the date 22 Jan. 1776:
Goods Manufactured per Jas. Meadows Dr. to Jas. Meadows £9..9
for 2 hilts the 20th instant, as per his Book.
Goods Manufactured by Tyson & Co. Dr. to Tyson & Co. £15..6..2½
for amount of goods received from them to ye 20th instant, per their Book.
Tortoiseshell Work Dr. to Robert Dodd £1..16..6½
for amount of work deliverd us to the 20th instant, as per his Book.
Gold & Gilt Chains, &ca., per Bentley Dr. to Jno. Bentley £62..16..9
for amount of chains to the 6th instant received of him, per his Book.
On the other hand, the larger departments of manufacture (particularly those constituted as separate partnerships) kept more elaborate accounts. A special Cash Book was kept to record the weekly wages paid to workmen in the principal button concern, and in the same connection references are made to a Workmen's Ledger, Workmen's Notes, and a Button Ledger. John Hodges (manager of the plated department) made an examination of the "Toy Room Books" in October 1780. Further investigation of this subject would probably shed useful light on the interrelation of the different parts of the Manufactory.
The Soho Letter Books form a nearly continuous series, covering the period from 2 Jan. 1771 to 28 Jun. 1782, with only a brief gap for the period from 19 Jan. 1773 to 19 May 1774. There is probably just one volume wanting at this point, and portions of this (containing letters dated between 22 Mar. and 16 Oct. 1773) will be found listed with the Additions. The series of Incoming Correspondence has been reconstructed as much as possible, as the letters were at some point amalgamated with Matthew Boulton's General Correspondence.
The Statements of the Soho Cash Account with the Birmingham Warehouse, 1769-1774, were compiled from time to time by John Scale and sent to Zaccheus Walker, the Birmingham bookkeeper, for him to check against the entries in his own books, after which they were then returned to Scale with any necessary amendments. The earliest extant account may mark the beginning of this practice, as it does not show a balance brought forward from a previous account, but there are a few gaps later in the series. The documents were formerly enclosed in a wrapper labelled "Accounts settled with Z. Walker, 1774"; it is not known whether the series was continued after this date. Possibly these papers are the
Accounts settled with the late Mr Z. Walker in the Years 1772 a 1774.
mentioned as being among the papers of William Cheshire when he left Soho in 1812.
Records of the Birmingham Warehouse.
The Birmingham account books were kept throughout the whole duration of the partnership by Zaccheus Walker. However, none of the principal books are extant, so a description of the accounting system used there has not been attempted.
The three surviving account books are all Cash Books or Petty Cash Books. The earliest of these falls into two parts. Initially (pages 1-81) it was used to record all cash receipts and payments, but on 21 Jan. 1763 a new cash book was begun and the entries made since the beginning of the year were copied into it, transactions relating to petty expenses and workmen's wages being summarized under one total. Thereafter (pages 81-268) the first book was used exclusively as a "workmen's and petty cash book" and totals were periodically posted from it to the main cash book.
The third book is a petty cash book for the period 3 Jan. 1767-1 May 1775. Though some of the pages in this volume are headed, "Cash Cr. Paid Workmen & Pettys," this book (unlike the earlier "workmen's and petty cash book") contains no entries for the payment of workmen's wages. Annotations indicate that, as before, the balance from this book was posted at monthly intervals to the cash book.
The Letter Books kept at Birmingham are distinguished as either Common Letter Books or Foreign Letter Books. The name "Common Letter Book" appears on the spine of the first volume in this series, and has been adopted as a title for all letter books not classed as foreign letter books, but it is not certain that they all belong to the same series.
The Foreign Letter Books contain copies of letters sent to foreign correspondents. The letters in the first volume form two distinct series. Those in the first series date from the period 15 Jan.-30 May 1757 and relate to the earlier partnership of Matthew Boulton & Son. After these letters were copied, the book was evidently laid aside for a few years until the commencement of the new partnership, when the second series of letters, covering the period 17 July 1762-29 May 1765, was begun. The letters in the second volume are handwritten copies till 26 Aug. 1780, and mainly press-copies thereafter.
The Memoranda from Soho all derive from a short period at the beginning of 1777 and are of two main kinds, namely advices from James Pearson listing bills drawn on Matthews & Barton, and instructions from John Scale to dispatch particular letters and parcels; the memoranda of the first kind are addressed specifically to Zaccheus Walker, and are marked in red ink as having been entered by him. For further details, see the separate list of Contents.
Besides these, there are a few undocketed Miscellaneous Memoranda.