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View of Matthew Boulton’s Soho Manufactory and Royal Mint Offices in Handsworth near Birmingham

Matthew Boulton’s Soho Works was built between 1762 and 1764 to provide a base for his expanding buckle and button business. Rapidly the range of products expanded and Soho became the largest factory in the world. The advertisement lists the “annexed firms” which formed part of his industrial and commercial empire:

  • M Boulton and Button Company – buttons in general,
  • M Boulton and Smiths – buckles, latchets etc.,
  • M Boulton and Plate Company – silver and plated good,
  • M Boulton – mint for the Government and coins,
  • M Boulton – medals, rolled medals etc.,
  • M Boulton – Mercantile trade in Birmingham,
  • Boulton, Watt and Sons – iron foundry and steam engines,
  • J Watt and Co – letter copying machines

The mint for producing coins is shown to the right of the works. Soho was located in a rural setting when Boulton bought the lease for his Handsworth site in 1761. By the time of Boulton’s death in 1809, Soho, though within Staffordshire, was effectively part of the Birmingham conurbation. The engraving provides a brief glimpse of nearby Birmingham on the hill towards the left of the factory.


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