INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
Series Three: The Papers of James Watt and his Family formerly held at Doldowlod House, now at Birmingham Central Library

Part 1: Correspondence, Papers & Business Records, 1687-1819

Part 2: Correspondence, Papers & Business Records, 1736-1848

Part 3: Correspondence, Papers & Business Records, 1736-1848

Detailed Listing - Part 1

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Catalogue of the Papers of James Watt, James Watt junior and Gregory Watt formerly held at Doldowlod House (1 red spiral bound volume)

James Watt of Greenock, 1698-1782
Personal correspondence from his son James Watt the Engineer

JWP 4/11 1754-1774 Letters from his son concerning the progress of his instrument-making, surveying and other business affairs. (161 documents)

JWP 6/46 1755-1756 Letters and a few accounts from James Watt during his apprenticeship, describing life in London. (36 documents)

JWP 4/60 1774-1775 Letters from James Watt following his move to Birmingham: "I am arrived here yesterday" [1 June 1774]; "The business I am here about has turned out rather successful; That is to say that the fire engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made & I expect will be very beneficial to me..." [11 December 1774], and reporting the success of the Bill to extend the patent: "This affair has been attended with great expence, and without many friends of great interest I should never have been able to carry it through, as many of the most powerful people in the house of commons opposed it." [8 May 1775]. (4 documents)

James Watt of Greenock, 1698-1782 Business records

JWP C4/A1 1729-1732 Account book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A2 1730-1734 Cash and stock book. (1 volume)
JWP JW/15 1732-1770 Miscellaneous accounts and papers. (230 documents)

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JWP JW/16 1733-1773 Miscellaneous accounts. (91 documents)
JWP JW/17 1733-1774 Miscellaneous accounts. (64 documents)
JWP JW/18 1734-1776 Miscellaneous accounts. (71 documents)
JWP JW/19 1735-1771 Miscellaneous salt and other accounts. (76 documents)
JWP C4/A3 1737-1740 Letter book, entitled 'Orders to build the Ronak'. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A4 1740-1741 Letter book. (1 volume)
JWP JW/21 1740-1773 Miscellaneous accounts of James Watt and others. (54 documents)

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JWP JW/20 1740-1787 Miscellaneous accounts. (14 documents)
JWP C4/A5 1743 Letter book, with single sheet of accounts. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A6 1746-1749 Letter book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A7 1748-1749 Day book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A8 1749-1751 Letter book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A10 1749-1750 Account for the ship Crawford. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A9 1750 Accounts of Robert Finlay with James Watt etc. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A11 1751-1758 Letter book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A12 1753 Day book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A14 1753-1754 Ledger. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A13 1753-1755 Invoice book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A15 1759-1760 Account book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A16 1761 Account book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A17 1761-1763 Ledger (marked LG 1762 inside cover). (1 volume)

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JWP C4/A18 1763-1764 Account book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A19 1764-1766 Ledger (marked H on spine). (1 volume)
JWP C4/A20 1767-1770 Account of Lads' work. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A21 1768 Account book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A22 1769 Account with the town of Greenock. (1 volume)
JWP 4/68 1769-1787 Bundle of papers concerning Greenock accounts. (12 documents)
JWP C4/A23 1770 List of sundry debts from Ledger I. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A24 1771 Small account book marked 'No 2'. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A25 1772-1773 Account book. (1 volume)
JWP C4/A26 1776 Inventory of goods, taken 15 January 1776. (1 volume)

John Watt of Crawfordsdyke, 1687-1737

The items listed below are attributed to John Watt, teacher and surveyor, on account of their content. They were probably used later by James Watt the engineer when he became a land surveyor.

JWP C4/B32 (1682)-c1730 "Navigation in all its parts", including a transcript of 'The articles, settlement and offices of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania', (1682) and John Partridge's 'prophecy of the present year 1684'. (1 volume)

JWP C4/B28 1732 "Some questions of the square root and obliquae trigonometre" and "Great Circle Sailing". (1 volume)

JWP C4/B29 nd Damaged volume on mathematics and navigation. (1 volume)

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JWP C4/B30 nd "Traverse sailing, Case 2d". (1 volume)
JWP C4/B31 nd Loose sheets (i) 9-28, 37-44, 65-72 headed "Chapter III" on page 9 and (ii) "oblique sailing", pp5-12. (1 bundle)
JWP C4/B34 nd "Algebraic Questions". (1 bundle)
JWP C4/B35 nd "Geometrical Definitions". (1 volume)
JWP C4/B36 nd Navigational and astronomical tables, no title but marked with a star and "sun and moon 1710". (1 volume)

James Watt, 1736-1819 Press copy letters

Most of the press copies are carefully pasted into folio albums that are closely similar to those generated by Boulton & Watt. Most the copies are surprisingly legible but some (eg LB/5) very faded. They contain almost the whole of Watt's out-letters from 1779 (the year before he patented the copying machine) until his death. Some early press copy letters to Boulton and Keir are included in folder 3/8.

JWP W/5 1779-1781 Folder of press copies of letters written by James Watt to Dr Black, Josiah Wedgwood, Mr Nivien, Robert Muirhead, James McGrigor, Gilbert Hamilton, Captain and Mrs Marr, Mr Rathbone, Mrs Watt, Mr Dunlop, and J H de Magellan. One of these is almost certainly the earliest surviving press copy letter in the world. Several letters are very fragile and faint. (1 bundle)

JWP 3/8 1781-1783 Press copies of private letters from James Watt to Matthew Boulton and James Keir, 1781-82. The letters to Keir mostly concern the manufacture of alkali and the copying machine; at fol.2v the recipe for the copying ink is given. (1 folder).

Also included are a few loose letters, including one from Matthew Boulton to Robert Cameron, 1782, referring to his offer to go out to the West Indies to erect rotative engines to work sugar mills, and another from Boulton to William Chapman at Newcastle, about a proposed sole agency for the sale of Boulton & Watt engines at collieries within thirty miles of Newcastle, 1783.

JWP 3/18 1782 Bound folder of press copy letters titled 'No 9 Cornwall', February - April 1782, including a number of long letters to Matthew Boulton. (1 folder)

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JWP LB/1 1782-1789 Private letter book. Includes about 400 letters on 287 ff. (1 volume)

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JWP LB/2 1789-1797 Private letter book. Contains about 450 letters. (1 volume)

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JWP LB/3 1797-1803 Private letter book. Includes about 500 letters. (1 volume)

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JWP LB/4 1803-1810 Private letter book. (1 volume)

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JWP LB/5 1810-1818 Private letter book. (1 volume)

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JWP LB/6 1818-1819 Private letter book. Includes about 100 letters. (1 volume)

James Watt, 1736-1819
Personal Correspondence

JWP C1/36 1761 Letter from Alexander Cumming regarding pipes for a portable organ, 27 December 1761. (1 document)

JWP 4/7 1761-1769 Letters from his father, James Watt of Greenock, including one asking if he knows anyone who can repair the fire engine at Greenock (presumably a fire-fighting engine), and another about the death of his brother, John Watt, at sea. (70 documents)

JWP 4/4 1761-1773 Letters between James Watt and his wife Margaret, née Miller, ending with her last letter and a doctor's letter sending news of her death. (44 documents)

JWP 4/87 1762-1767 Letters from Alexander Cumming: "I am glad that you succeed so well in organ building. I make no doubt but you'll get the better of all obstacles, but I think your studying a little of thorough Bass wou'd make you [better] acquainted with the relation of the different stops, than you can by any other means be", R Cooper and Erasmus Darwin (with drawing of a chaise) "...Now my dear new Friend, I first hope you are well, and less hypocondriac; and that Mrs Watt and your child are well. The plan of your Steam Improvements I have religiously kept secret, but begin myself to see some difficulties in their execution, that did not strike me when you was here. I have got another new Hobby Horse since I saw you. I wish the Lord would send you to pass a week with me and Mrs Watt along with you, - a Week! - a Month!, a Year". (3 documents)

JWP C1/38 1763 Letter from Charles Clagget, suggesting that he sells Watt's musical instruments in Dublin as a partner or on an agency basis, 30 September 1765. In his early years as an instrument maker Watt interested himself in the manufacture of musical instruments including guitars, violas and fiddles as well as flutes and organs. He used his mathematical knowledge of harmonics to compensate for his deficiency of ear. He was so successful that Clagget, who had a musical instrument shop in Dublin, offered him a partnership. (1 document)

JWP C1/15 1764-1799 Letters exchanged by James Watt and Dr James Lind. Lind, was a cousin of James Keir and a close friend of Watt during his Glasgow days, and in the 1790s. In the 1760, he and Watt corresponded about scientific instruments; later Lind was interested in ballooning and other attempts at aerial flight. These letters provide unique information about the ballooning craze of the 1790s, when Watt was a correspondent of Cavallo (see W/9, Part 2, Reel 22). Other subjects include medicine, James Keir, Boulton's explosive balloon, electrical machines. (1 volume, some loose letters)

JWP 4/16 1765-1768 Letters from Lord Alva, John Lean, Sarah Levisson, Messrs Love and Manson, John Wyke re business matters. (7 documents)

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JWP 4/32 1765-1775 Letters from Dr John Roebuck and Dr James Lind. (126 documents, being 34 letters plus papers)

JWP 4/57 1765-1775 Letters from Dr John Roebuck. Both this and 4/32 (the previous bundle) date from the years when Roebuck was Watt's partner in the development of the steam engine. "...You are letting the most active part of your life insensibly glide away. A Day a Moment ought not to be lost. And you should not suffer your Thoughts to be diverted by any other subject or even improvement of this but only the speediest and most effectual manner of executing one of a proper Size according to Your present ideas..." Extracts of some of these letters have been published in James Watt and the Steam Revolution (25 documents)

JWP C1/14 1767 Letter to an unnamed correspondent, describing his newly-invented micrometer, 9 September 1767: "It gives me great pleasure when I can communicate even a new trifle to my friends. With this view, I send the description of a micrometer I think new...". (1 document)

Accurate instrument making was very largely dependent on the invention of accurate micrometers, Watt was a pioneer in this field and corresponded extensively with such people as William Small and James Lind on this subject. It was pointed out to him that Peter Dollond (1730-1820) had been granted a patent for a micrometer which Watt himself had invented some years earlier, but Watt was always unwilling to challenge other people's patents, knowing how often his own where contested. The unfortunate experience of Arkwright, whom Watt tried to assist in the defence of his patent, only strengthened his determination not to challenge the patents of others.

JWP 4/82 1767-1796 Bundle of miscellaneous letters and papers of James Watt, mostly drafts and press copies of letters by Watt, but also including letters from Dr Lind and Lord Cathcart; much about surveying including 3 sketch maps of North Side of West Loch Tarbert surveyed by Watt in 1771 and note on Crinan Canal. (30 documents)

JWP 4/41 1768-1770 Letters from Thomas Handley, the solicitor who acted for Watt in obtaining the patent of 1769; this bundle includes the bill for drawing up Watt's patent specification.
(7 documents)

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JWP 4/39 1768-1774 Letters from Dr Joseph Black, published in Partners in Science (20 documents)

JWP 4/59 1768-1775 Letters between James Watt and Dr William Small, about the development of the steam engine and other matters, Watt writes [20 October 1769] "You say you are not discouraged by our experiment. I own I am, not that I believe it impossible for the engine to succeed but the constant succession of new difficultys must at last make me sink under them and abandon it. I find myself always less and less fruitful in Expedients to remedy the faults that occur..." [and August 1772]: "...Although I am out of pocket a much greater sum in these experiments that my proportion of the property in the engine, I do not look upon that money as the price of my share but as money spent on my education. I thank God that I have now reason to believe that I can never while I have health be at any loss to pay what I owe, and to live at least in a decent manner, more I do not violently desire..."

Also includes a letter of Matthew Boulton to Watt, written immediately after Small's death on 25 February 1775: "Dear Watt, You have lost a friend so have I. Take him all in all we ne'er shall see his like again. My loss is as inexpressible as it is irreparable. I am ready to burst. I can't write more but remain Your inconsolable and affectionate Friend, Matthew Boulton. [PS] Acquaint Dr Roebuck - I can't." (6 documents)

JWP 4/12 1768-1799 Letters from James Watt to Dr Joseph Black, returned to Watt by Black's executors after his death. All these letters have been published in Partners in Science, they are some of the most important letters in the collection, dealing in detail with the full range of the two men's shared interests. Watt's letters cover the firing of delft and stoneware, the manufacture of alkali from salt, the invention and manufacture of scientific instruments, the copying-press, the drawing of plans for canals and harbour improvements, the steam engine, and patent law, eg; no.42, 6 June 1784: "...Previous to your letter I have heard much of Mr Cort's process for making barrs and have seen a great deal of his Iron, though I cannot perfectly agree with you as to its goodness yet there is much Ingenuity in the Idea of forming the barrs in that manner, which is the only part of his process which has any pretensions to novelty. The kind of Iron you describe is one of the modifications of Cold short Iron and is known here by the emphatical name of rotten tough...Mr Cort has as you observe been most illiberally treated by his trade - they are ignorant brutes; but he exposed himself to it by exposing his process to them before it was perfect, and they saw his ignorance of the common operations of making Iron, laughed at and despised him; yet they will contrived by some dirty occasion to use his process...without acknowledging him in it. I shall be glad to be able to be of any use to him." (59 documents)

JWP 4/24 1769 Letters and papers between James Watt and Dr William Small, including draft specification for Watt's steam engine patent and one letter from Dr Small. (7 documents)

JWP 4/50 1769-1773 Letters from various correspondents concerning the port of Glasgow, the Monkland Canal and the River Clyde. (30 documents)

JWP 4/33 1769-1776 Letters, mostly from Mr Morrison of Alloa, regarding canals, Caledonian Canal, surveying etc. (23 documents)

JWP 6/19 1769-1776 Letters, mostly from Matthew Boulton, and mostly of 1775-76; much about the Engine Bill in Parliament, and several refer to Small's funeral, estate etc. One letter records how a rival was so depressed at seeing how well a Boulton & Watt engine worked that he gave the model of his own engine to M R Boulton [then aged six] in disappointment. Another refers to Watt's consideration of the offer of a post in Russia: "...Your going to Russia staggers me. The precariousness of your health, the dangers of so long a journey or voyage, and my own deprivation of consolation renders me a little uncomfortable, but I wish to assist & advise you for the best without regard to self." Also includes letters from James Keir and John Fothergill. (32 documents)

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JWP 6/44 1769-1827 Letters, mostly from Dr Roebuck to Matthew Boulton, 1769-80, including his offer to sell his share of the steam engine patent, but also including a letter from W Matthews to Watt, 1775 and one from Josiah Roebuck to James Watt junior, 1827.(9 documents)

JWP 4/80 1770-1771 Letters exchanged between James Watt, William Sandeman and Hector Turnbull about a watermill to drive a mangle. (5 documents)

JWP 6/38 1770-1771 Letters from William Alexander about a water engine, wheel and pumps for a coal mine in Scotland. (12 documents)

JWP 4/51 1770-1773 Letters from Charles Gascoigne and William Cadell of the Carron Company. (13 documents)

JWP 4/3 1770-1773 Letters from his father, James Watt of Greenock, mainly containing personal news but also about surveying etc. (28 documents)

JWP 4/19 1770-1773 Letters from various correspondents, mostly concerning the Monkland Canal. Includes letters from Van Liender, John Smeaton, J Naismith, James Montgomery of Ayr: "I have the pleasure to inform you that on 21st Currt, our Engine was sett agoing and answers to the utmost extent of our hopes, she goes admirably well and we are proceeding with our sinking...Our man John Scot I believe will go mad with Joy at his success, our Engine going so far superior to that of our Neighbours. I mean Mr Bewmounts, I must own he hath surpast my expectations both as to time and Workmanship..." Peter Colevile, Mr Ferguson, W Mather, Lord Cochrane and Dr Alexander Wilson. (39 documents)

JWP 4/62 1770-1773 Letters regarding Watt's survey of the isthmuses of Crinan and Tarbert, with a four-page journal of work done. (23 documents)

JWP 6/47 1771-1772 Letters from James Keir describing his experiments with alkali [published in Partners in Science]. (2 documents)

JWP JW/24 1771-1773 Letters from Charles MacDowal about surveying. (8 documents)

JWP 4/40 1772-1773 Letters from various correspondents, including his father about supplying the town of Greenock with water. (8 documents)

JWP 4/10 1773-1775 Letters from Lord Cathcart regarding surveying prospects in Scotland, with two from Mr Callendar and several from the Devon Navigation Company. (22 documents)

JWP 6/37 1774-1775 Letters from Captain Marr on a campaign in Canada and Miss Betty Miller, Watt's sister-in-law. (14 documents)

JWP 4/20 1774-1776 Letters from Gilbert Hamilton and Robert Muirhead about various family and business matters including weaving, schools, Bo'ness Canal. Muirhead is glad to hear of the success of the engine but complains of "...the d---n'd abstruse subjects you write about" (33 documents)

JWP 4/76 1774-1776 Letters from various correspondents, including Dr Hutton, Patrick Wilson, George Clerk (re Black, Priestley, and tobacco sales in 1775), Van Liender. (12 documents)

JWP C1/40 1775 Letter from Erasmus Darwin, urging Watt not to go to Russia, 29 March 1775. (1 document)

John Robison had passed on an invitation to Watt from the Empress Catherine to become Master Founder of Iron Ordnance to Her Imperial Majesty in 1771, and when Watt feared that the steam engine enterprise would founder in 1775, he talked of taking up the offer. Boulton also wrote to try to dissuade him (see JWP 6/26, Part 2, Reel 38)

JWP 4/18 1775-1776 Letters from George Anderson, Robert Barclay and Mrs Cochrane about accounts. (3 documents)

JWP 3/38 1775-1790 Letters from various correspondents, grouped in three small bundles, as follows: a) four letters, including Erasmus Darwin, asking for information on steam engines suitable for a note in his forthcoming Economy of Vegetables ; b) eight letters from various correspondents, 1775-77; c) ten letters from various correspondents, 1778-90 including one from Samuel Wyatt sending plans for Heathfield House, 1789 [plans not present]. (22 documents)

JWP 4/17 1776-1781 Letters from various correspondents, including Josiah Wedgwood (re an engine lathe, 1779), Charles MacDowal (re engines and a canal), Charles Clagget (re violins), George Clarke, Michael Bogle, James Buchanan, Rev Lawson, Frederick Augustus Muller, J Palmer and Samuel Galton junior: "I have sent by my servant two small quantities of the Tartarious Acid one in a fluid the other in a mucilaginous state, I observed this morning that it precipitates lead from the acid of Vinegar, whether this be consistent with the affinity of the Acid or whether it be combined with any part of the Vit. Acid employed to decompose it I do not know. Dr Black's method was implicitly followed. The Tartar and lime were boiled it is true in an iron kettle lined with Tin and the mixture put into a vessel glazed with lead - can this be any defect in the process?". (12 documents)

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JWP 4/21 1776-1786 Letters from his cousin, Jean Cochrane, who acted as Watt's agent in Scotland. (9 documents)

JWP 4/36 1776-1796 Letters from Jonathan and Jabez Hornblower. Jonathan Hornblower (snr) writes about Tingtang Colliery; Jabez writes business letters from Pwelheli and Penryndee.
(52 documents)

JWP 4/15 1777-1780 Letters from Gilbert Hamilton, Robert Muirhead and Mr McGrigor about business and family matters, [see JWP 4/20, Reel 14 for similar earlier material]. (31 documents)

JWP 6/48 1777-1805 Letters mainly from John Roebuck junior and John Woodward, 1790-1805, but including one from Dr Roebuck about Henry Moyes, the blind scientific lecturer, 1777. (9 documents)

JWP C1/28 1778 Letter from Dr William Irvine, discussing among other matters the success of Watt's engine. (1 document)

JWP 4/49 1778-1781 Letters from Dr Patrick Wilson regarding copying machine. (3 documents)

JWP 6/36 1779-1789 Letters from Watt to Josiah Wedgwood, returned to James Watt junior by T Wedgwood in 1847, with a covering letter of that date. Watt's letters concern a flint mill, engine lathe, business interests in Cornwall, geology of Cornwall, warning of French engineers looking for industrial information, copper trade and Cornish Metal Co. (46 documents)

JWP C1/27 1780 Letter to Rev Mr Deane regarding the education of James Watt junior, 2 November 1780. (1 document)

JWP 6/21 1780-1786 Letters from William Matthews, Watt's banker and agent in London, regarding engine and canal business, money etc, and arranging for James Watt junior to go to Geneva. (25 documents)

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JWP 4/44 1780-1799 Letters between Watt and Dr Joseph Black published in Partners in Science and including four letters to J H Magellan. (71 documents)

JWP 4/47 1780-1799 Letters from Dr William Withering, about prescriptions, money etc. (34 documents)
JWP C1/32 1781 A letter from his son James Watt junior, enclosing a sample of his drawing, 19 September 1781. (1 document)

James Watt laid considerable stress on the education of his children in the ability to draw; not only machine drawings, but also freehand drawing because of its importance in design. Both Boulton and Watt established school for apprentices to learn drawing.

JWP 4/81 1781 Letter from James Keir regarding the copying machine. (1 document)

JWP C1/26 1781 Letter from Dr William Withering about his experiments, 21 November 1781. (1 document)

JWP 4/9 1781-1787 Letters in French and German relating to James Watt junior's foreign tour. Correspondents include M. Carpentier, M. Reinhard, Baron Reden, Professor Lempe, J A de Luc, M. De Lessert, Dr Odier, Aimé Argand and M. Guyot. (41 documents)

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JWP 4/43 1781-1789 Letters from Gilbert Hamilton, Robert Muirhead and James McGrigor, mostly regarding family matters.(67 documents)

JWP JW/22 1781-1790 Letters from various correspondents (mainly from Scotland) including Dr Roebuck, Professor Robison, John Austin, Mrs Campbell of Glasgow, David Dale, Dr Patrick Wilson, Andrew Wilson: "...as Helen and Anna were pretty much blackened going thro' your works at Soho I left them to bathe to their necks at the Citadel at Leith...", Charles MacDowal, W Craig and Robert Muirhead. (46 documents)
JWP 4/48 1781-1790 Letters from various correspondents, including Sir Joseph Banks, John Smeaton (about problems with copying drawings), J H de Magellan, M. Guyot, and Dr Thomas Percival of Manchester: "In a conversation which I enjoyed with Dr Priestley, who lately paid me a short but very friendly visit, I learned with much satisfaction, that you have accomplished a method of destroying smoke, which issues from fire engines, furnaces and other works. I am solicitous to receive further information concerning a discovery, which promises to be of great importance to the inhabitants of Manchester, who appear to be particularly incident to pulmonic affections; and I am apprehensive will become more so, from the rapid increase of the cotton manufactory. The fumes which arise from the Burning of velvets, are extremely acrimonious and offensive to the lungs. And they are so copious, even from a single chimney, as to scatter a shower of soot over a very considerable space. It is my intention to make a representation to our Magistrates at the ensuing Quarter Sessions, or the expediency and necessity of adopting some measures for the purification to the air of Manchester. For they are the guardians of the health as well as the morals of their fellow citizens and though works which are necessary for the prosecution of trade, ought not to be deemed nuisances, the persons who are engaged in them, should be induced, or enjoined, to conduct them in a manner as little injurious as possible to the public." (14 documents)

JWP 6/17 1781-1805 Letters from Professor Robison about a wide range of scientific matters, all published in Partners in Science. (38 documents)

JWP C1/17 1782 Letter from James Keir about the sale of a (?copying) machine, 5 January 1782. (1 document)

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JWP JW/23 1782-1787 Letters from various correspondents including Joseph Fry (news of Hornblower's Radstock engine etc), Charles Clagget, John Knox, W Chapman, J Baddeley, Daniel McMillan, G Goodwin, J Ingram, W Morehead, Pochin Lister, W Playfair, J Alston, Hugh Warden, Charles Startin, John Bengo, Henry Smeathman (about the settlement of Sierra Leone): "...You will observe by my plan of settlement, that Blacks and Persons of Color, have a most favourable opportunity, through the benevolence of Government, of enjoying great advantages, and the Public will be relieved from a great burden for the greater part of those unfortunate persons come to the Parish. If I could have this same bounty with whites, for it amounts to £14 each person, it would be possible to engage several thousand in a month, Upward of 340 have entered voluntarily to go with me. Many of the Black Men have white wives and the Black women white husbands, and there are among them all kinds of useful tradesmen", Dr Jonathan Stokes and Samuel Whitbread: "Your engine put up for me has universal Credit and many Gentlemen of the first rank have seen it by which means it has come to his Majesty's ears that he has told me he has a desire to see that the Brewhouse also accompanied by the Queen and expect it will be within a fortnight but no day yet fixed. Now Sir, as the Engine does you so much honor I do wish you to be present as the information you can give his Majesty will be highly pleasing to him and you will oblige me but that need not be added as an inducements. I beseech you not to mention this matter to any person whatever but favour me with your answer that you hold yourself in readiness...". (36 documents)

JWP 6/27 1782-1788 Letters from Josiah Wedgwood about Cornish clay, china stone and china clay, furnace pipes, thermometers for use in kilns, the slave trade, and the political influence of the Chamber of Manufacturers: "I congratulate you, and every friend to the manufacturing interest of Great Britain, upon the disposal of the intended treaty with Ireland. It is an epoch in our commercial history, and a very flattering one to our infant institution of the Chamber of Manufacturers, and I trust will open the eyes of those who have hitherto kept them shut to the utility, not to say the necessity of such an establishment; and now is certainly the time in which its members & friends should by every means in their power
recommend it to the notice and protection of the public." (20 docs)

JWP C1/29 1783 Letter from Joseph Fry about manganese metal and his attendance at Warltire's lectures, 1 February 1783; and on the same sheet, a letter from William Jones about the particulars of a steam engine. (Originally part of JWP JW/23). (1 document)

JWP C1/31 1784 Letter from his son, James Watt junior, about the progress of his education, 29 September 1784. (1 document)

JWP 4/22 1784-1785 Letters from [W B] Kirwan, chemist, regarding phlogiston in metals. (3 documents)

JWP W/8 1784-1787 Letters from James Watt junior on his schoolboy travels in Europe: "...We left Dover this morning about 5 o'clock and arrived here by 10, the wind being due North, the Sea was very turbulent, and my stomach was not much better, for I was very sick at intervals during the whole voyage, as was also the Count Andreani...If the rest of France is like this town (Calais) I cannot say I shall be very fond of it, for I think this is the dullest place I ever was in, nobody scarcely stirring in the streets except a few old women with earrings either brass or gilt depending from their ears like the inhabitants of Otaheite...Both the Count and Mr de St Fond disclaim against the English way of living, saying 'no good Roast Beef, no good potatoes' etc, however for my part I think they far excel us in luxury, bringing such medleys to the table as it is impossible to discover the ingredients of and which are very disagreeable to the taste..." (45 documents)

JWP 4/67 1784-1789 Letters from various foreign correspondents, mostly in French concerning James Watt junior's travels. Correspondents include M. Guyot, M. Jeanson, M. Duval, M. Reveillon, M. De Lessart, M. De Virley, M. Sylvestre. (21 documents)

JWP 4/37 1784-1802 Letters from J A de Luc, in French, written from Windsor, when de Luc was reader to the Queen. (38 documents)

JWP C1/12 1785 Letter to Josiah Wedgwood, informing him of a meeting of the Lunar Society, and inviting Wedgwood to stay: "...On Monday next we have a philosophical meeting at Doctor Witherings where all our society will be very happy to see you and I beg of you to come and that you will be so kind as to take a bed at my house. We dine at 2 o'clock and do not part till 8 in the evening." (1 document)

JWP 4/14 1785-1789 Letters from Aimé Argand in English, written from London and Paris, mostly about Argand lamps made at Soho and about water companies in Paris, eg "Since I wrote to M.. Rey the letter he has communicated to you, I could hardly find a moment to sit down and write to any of my friends so busy I was in running here and there to Versailles, to different country houses, visiting the Ministers, Interdants and all their alentoures. Shewing the lamps to all the Nobility, I think indeed, of the whole Court and Paris, being plagued day and night with visits and tired to death; and lastly, what was no small trouble, obliged as I have been to alter all the lamps I had with me from Soho, many of them plated, brass and tin running from bad solder; and none able to burn from the level of oil being ½ an inch too low..." (19 documents)

REEL 19
JWP 4/63 1786-1796 Letters from Margaret Miller, Gregory Watt and Jessie Watt. (23 documents)

JWP C1/11 1787 Letter to Josiah Wedgwood, seeking his views on the establishment of a General Chamber of Manufacturers being a plan to bring together the Chamber at Manchester, the Iron Works of Sheffield, the Pottery, Nottingham etc. [Almost certainly this letter was amongst those returned by Thomas Wedgwood to James Watt junior in 1847; see JWP 6/36, Reel 15] (1 document)

JWP 4/35 1787-1789 Letters from Dr Jonathan Stokes (re a watch) and Zaccheus Walker. (5 documents)

JWP W/11 1787-1790 Letters, mostly from Claude-Louis Berthollet, in French, with references to the progress of the French Revolution; other correspondents include the Chevalier Lindriani and M. Brunelle. (21 documents)

JWP W/7 1787-1790 Letters from James Watt junior and his employers, Messrs Taylor & Maxwell of Manchester, mainly concerning business. (58 documents)

JWP 4/2 1787-1790 Letters from C Matthews. [This is probably Mrs Charlotte Matthews, wife of William Matthews (d.1792) who was the London banker of Boulton and Watt; letter number 21 here includes a copy of permission to Boulton to assign engine patents to W Matthews] (40 documents)

JWP C1/8 1788 Letter from Josiah Wedgwood about business matters and the latter's support for the abolition of slavery: "...I take it for granted that you and I are on the same side of the question respecting the slave trade. I have joined my brethren here in a petition from the pottery for abolition of it, as I do not like a half measure in this black business." (1 document)

JWP 4/64 1788-1789 Letters from various correspondents, including Charles Clagget: "It is impossible in London to trust a mechanic with any experiment in the musical way as the great shops will bribe so high to robb any man of his inventions, but I venture to suppose you may find men to be relyed on... Are there any French Horn makers in Birmingham? If not I must bring some with me..." (9 documents)

JWP 4/28 1788-1790 Letters from Mr de Boffe of London, dealer in continental scientific books and Hugh Warden, a Dublin merchant. (10 documents)

JWP 6/25 1788-1790 Letters from Thomas Henry of Manchester concerning experiments with chemical bleaching, infringement of his patents, personal news etc. (8 documents)

JWP 4/13 1790-1792 Letters from various correspondents, including C Addison, A Brown, J Call, William Chapman, D Coke, David Dale, A De Luc, R Fraser, Samuel Galton junior, Samuel Garbett, C Glover, Logan Henderson, R Morhall, Count Reden, J Roberts, Dr John Roebuck, John Roebuck junior, John Scale, John Skeys (re windmills), Hugh Warden, Dr Patrick Wilson, J Woodmason and Samuel Wyatt. Also includes printed leaflet about Birmingham resolutions on the slave trade and the resolutions of a meeting about Ljuneberg's books. (39 documents)

REEL 20
JWP W/6 1790-1794 Letters from James Watt junior on his travels in Europe; a very fine series. (75 documents)

JWP C1/18 1791 Letter from Dr Joseph Priestley inviting Watt to join the Warwickshire Constitutional Society, 27 June 1791, enclosing a printed list of the 'principles' of the society. (1 document)

JWP C1/20 1791 Draft letter from Watt to Dr Joseph Priestley, replying to C1/18 (previous document), explaining why he would not join the society, and expressing doubts about the wisdom of "stirring up effervescence"; written just six days before the Birmingham Riots. (1 document)

Both the preceding letters must have originally been in JWP W/13 (next). Priestley denied that the Lunar Society was ever involved in political matters, but this letter shows that he corresponded with Lunar members about politics.

JWP W/13 1791-1793 Letters, mostly from Joseph Priestley concerning the Lunar Society, phlogiston, inflammable air, a paper for the Royal Society and other important matters. There is also a draft letter from Watt to Priestley about the riots, counselling caution if Priestley returns to Birmingham: "I have been informed that you intend to come here soon to take leave of you congregation, there is no saying how the populace may act, that they have not forgiven the man they have injured is to be presumed from the general conduct of bad men. I therefore have some fears for you, at the same time it is certain that a cool courage frequently overawes those most determined to do mischief, let me however recommend caution and a proper regard to your own safety; if, therefore, you should find upon coming to Birmingham that ill minded people are likely to excite tumult, a public meeting with your congregation had better be deferred... until time has softened the antipathy with which the ignorant and brutal now regard you"; Watt also mentions having one book from Priestley's library ("I wish I had more"); in November 1791 Priestley thanks Boulton & Watt for the gift of a copying machine and writes of the difficulty of appraising his loss; in March 1792 he writes from America to thank them and other Lunar friends for further gifts of apparatus. This bundle also contains letters from Lorenz Crell of Helmstadt regarding chemistry and from Richard Walker. (13 documents)

JWP C1/33 1792 Letter from his son, James Watt junior, giving news from Paris, 22 March 1792. (1 document)

James Watt junior had formed close friendships with people of radical political views during his years in Manchester. In 1792 he visited Paris with Thomas Cooper (who later emigrated to America with Priestley) to present a letter of congratulation from the Manchester Constitutional Society to the Club des Jacobins, and was consequently denounced in Parliament by Burke. He eventually became disillusioned with the Revolution and returned to England in some trepidation for fear that the government might proceed against him.

JWP 6/23 1792-1794 Letters from various correspondents, including James Miller, Aimé Argand, Matthew Boulton, Charles Clagget (enclosing a printed handbill for his Auton, a mechanical organ in his musical museum in London), J A De Luc. (49 documents)

JWP 4/66 1793-1794 Letters from various correspondents, including Dr Priestley, (sending a Russian vocabulary; asking Watt to make an ink suitable for laboratory labels), William Sabatier, Dr Patrick Wilson, W Craig, John Rennie (regarding steam salt pans), Dr James Lind (regarding Boulton & Watt v Bull), T Byerley, M. Guyot, James Miller, James Keir, Robert Muirhead, Dr Jackson and Mr de Boffe. (41 documents)

JWP 6/32 1793-1799 Letters from his son, Gregory Watt, including one letter from school with a drawing for dissecting a frog, and letters about a visit to Cornwall, a riding accident, a record of the weather, visits to Glasgow and north Wales. (23 documents)

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