These records are subsidiary to the Household Books, but as they form a substantial group they have been separated for convenience.
Prior to 1787, or thereabouts, the housekeeper submitted periodical accounts of her expenses to the household agent, who reimbursed her for the amount. Some of these accounts will be found among the Household Bills. From 1787 onwards the housekeeper kept separate records of her own.
The principal record kept by the housekeeper was her Cash Book, usually called simply "the housekeeper’s book." Ann Mynd (Matthew Boulton’s niece), who acted as housekeeper from 1787 to 1794, kept one Cash Book for that whole period, but afterwards it was usual for a separate Cash Book to be kept for each year. Miss Mynd also kept a Ledger, but this practice was discontinued at her departure.
The Cash Books are straightforward records of the receipts and payments made by the housekeeper in the course of her duties. The receipts are mainly the relatively large sums supplied from time to time by the Household agent or cashier, but small sums were occasionally received for the sale of items such as poultry or kitchen grease. The items of expenditure are varied: the most common are payments for provisions, kitchen and table utensils, washing, servants’ clothes, and sundry expenses of the butler and coachman, but there are also many other miscellaneous entries. Between 12 Mar. 1802 and the end of 1822 a distinction was made between "ordinary disbursements" and "extra disbursements," the latter being defined as items "not properly referable to house expenses" [Cash Book, 1802, No. 1, p. 65] or "not regular diurnal expenditure" [Cash Book, 1810, p. 76].
The remaining documents kept by the housekeeper are all vouchers to entries in the Cash Books. The most numerous of these are the loose Bills. From time to time (normally at the end of the year) the accumulated bills were numbered and formed into bundles. The numbers on the bills are supposed to match the numbers written against the respective entries in the Cash Book, but the numbering is often irregular. Not all the bills have been found: for instance, there are no bills for the period 1795-1798, and only one for the year 1804. The Bills of Matthew Robinson Boulton’s Coming-of-Age Celebrations were formerly in a bundle labelled "Accts of 8 August 1791." They are docketed in Miss Mynd’s handwriting, in the same manner as the other housekeeper’s bills of this period, but it is not certain that they belong with the Housekeeper’s Accounts as there appear to be no corresponding entries in the Cash Book.
From 1793, special account books were kept for those tradesmen and women with whom the housekeeper dealt most frequently, such as the baker, butcher, grocer, washerwomen, &c. There are also a small number of sales vouchers, grocer’s receipts, &c. The account books for the year 1795 are numbered: book number 2 is apparently wanting.
Arrangement.
The Housekeeper’s Books and Accounts were formerly in several parcels, each of which usually contained a single Cash Book with its corresponding vouchers. The original arrangement has been preserved in the arrangement of the following List, except that the Cash Books for the years 1809 to 1811, which appear to have been in the 1812 parcel, have been placed with the records of their respective years. (These books were probably not put into a parcel till 1812 because Zaccheus Walker Jr., who took over as house agent in that year, had kept them at hand for reference.) Towards the end of the series there are some parcels of housekeeping accounts relating to periods when Mrs. Boulton and the children were away from Soho. The last group of records was formerly in a parcel marked, "3 Account Books, With Summary of Accounts and Weekly Expenditure at Hastings from Feby. 25 to June 1827."
List of Housekeepers at Soho House, 1787-1826.
Below is a list of the women who acted as housekeepers during the period covered by these records. When an interval occurred between the departure of one housekeeper and the arrival of her successor, the duties would be assumed for a time either by the lady’s maid or by the mistress of the house. (The names of such women are shown in square brackets.) Some of the dates are conjectural. For more information, see the Biographical Notes.
Miss Ann Mynd. ?1787-1794.
[Miss Ann Boulton.]
Mrs. James. 9 Dec. 1794-15 Dec. 1794.
[Miss Ann Boulton/Miss Patty Taylor.]
Mrs. Bottomley. Dec. 1795.
[Miss Ann Boulton.] Dec. 1795-6 Jan. 1796.
Mrs. Ellen Masters. 7 Jan. 1796-29 Dec. 1797.
[Martha Adcock, lady’s maid.] 20 Dec. 1797-11 Jan. 1798.
Mrs. Brayne. 11 Jan. 1798-15 Jan. 1799.
[Martha Adcock, lady’s maid.] 15 Jan. 1799-15 Feb. 1799.
Mrs. Ellen Masters. 15 Feb. 1799-14 Jun. 1799.
Mrs. Catherine Bailey, or Bayley. 14 Jun. 1799-29 Dec. 1800.
Mrs. E. Fallows. 29 Dec. 1800-10 Apr. 1801.
[?] 10 Apr. 1801-14 Apr. 1801.
Mrs. Mary Parkes (or Perks). 15 Apr. 1801-5 Jun. 1802.
[Mrs. Ann Dowler, ? lady’s maid.] 6 Jun. 1802-13 Jun. 1802.
Mrs. Sarah Walters. 14 Jun. 1802-15 Dec. 1809.
[Miss Ann Boulton.] 16 Dec. 1809-31 Dec. 1809.
Mrs. Anne Mellor (or Miller). 1 Jan. 1810-26 May 1813.
Mrs. Mary Gilbert. 26 May 1813-10 Nov. 1813.
Mrs. Ann Parsons. [? 1 Jan. 1814]-12 Jan. 1815.
Mrs. Eleanor Dowler. 25 Mar. 1815-11 Jan. 1817.
[?] 13 Jan. 1817-16 Mar. 1817.
[?] 17 Mar. 1817-2 Jun. 1817.
Mrs. Lightwood. 17 Jul. 1817-11 Mar. 1821.
[Mrs. Mary Anne Boulton.] 12 Mar. 1821-12 Nov. 1821.
Mrs. Cotterill. 13 Nov. 1821-7 Sep. 1822.
Mrs. Hodgson. 9 Sep. 1822-3 Jun. 1826.
The books in this list are each one volume, and the bills are each one file.
ACCESS AND USE
There are no restrictions on access to or use of the Housekeeper’s Books and Accounts. However fragile items or those in a poor state of repair may not be served at the discretion of the Duty Archivist.
List prepared by Adam C. Green, Project Archivist, Birmingham City Archives, under the Archives of Soho Project, November 1998 to March 2004.