Matthew Boulton: A Revolutionary Player

Matthew Boulton: a Revolutionary Player explores the life and importance of the industrialist and entrepreneur, Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), a central figure in Britain’s Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. He promoted new technology and manufacturing techniques to produce buttons, buckles, silverware, ormolu, coins and medals in his Soho Manufactory and Mint near Birmingham. In partnership with the inventor, James Watt, he improved the steam engine and stimulated the application of steam power to industry and transport.

The essays in this book have been commissioned by Dr Malcolm Dick, at the Centre for Birmingham and Midlands History, University of Birmingham, to coincide with the bicentenary of Boulton’s death in 1809. It applies the expertise of scholars and heritage professionals to communicate the state of current knowledge about Boulton to a wide public as well as specialists in the history of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.