Chapter XIX

BOULTON’S APPLICATION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE TO COINING.

The manufacture of counterfeit money was very common at Birmingham about the middle of last century,--so common, indeed, that it had become an almost recognised branch of trade. The machinery which was capable of making a button with a device and letters stamped upon one side of a piece of metal, was capable, with a few modifications, of making a coin with a device and letters stamped upon both sides. It was as easy to counterfeit one kind of coin as another--gold and silver, as well as copper; the former only requiring a little extra skill in manipulation, to which the button-makers were found fully equal.

The profits of this illegal trade were of course very large; and so long as the coiners could find a vend for their productions, they went on producing. But at length the public, smarting from many losses, acquired sufficient experience to detect the spurious issues of the Birmingham mints; and when an unusually bright shilling or guinea was offered, they had little difficulty in pronouncing upon its “Brummagem”[314] origin. But though profitable, the prosecution of this branch of business was by no means unattended with risks. While some who pursued it on a large scale contrived to elevate themselves among the moneyed class, others, less fortunate, secured an elevation of a very different kind,--one of the grimmest sights of those days being the skeletons of convicted coiners dangling from gibbets on Handsworth Heath.[315]

[314] The word “Brummagem” doubtless originated in the numerous
issues of counterfeit money from the Birmingham mints.

[315] The punishment for this crime was sometimes of a very brutal
character. In March, 1789, _a woman_, convicted of coining in
London, was first strangled by the stool being taken from under
her, and then fixed to a stake and _burnt_ before the debtor’s
door at Newgate!

The production of counterfeit gold and silver coins came to be avoided as too dangerous; but the production of counterfeit copper money continued active at Birmingham down to the middle of last century, when numerous illegal mints were found in active operation. A Royal proclamation was issued on the 12th July, 1751, warning the coiners against the consequences of their illegal proceedings; and shortly after, the Solicitor for the Mint went down to Birmingham, and had many of the more noted offenders tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. The principal manufacturers and traders of the town met and passed strong resolutions, condemning the practice of illegal coining; but the evil still continued; and in 1753 it was estimated that not less than half the copper coin in circulation was counterfeit. This disgraceful state of the coinage suggested, and partly justified, companies, firms, and local bodies, in circulating copper coinages of their own. These were followed by provincial pence and halfpence, which were, in their turn, counterfeited by pieces of baser metal. Most of the new copper coins of all sorts, good and bad, were executed at Birmingham; and thus coining shortly became one of the leading branches of business there.

Boulton, as the owner of the largest and best-equipped manufactory in the neighbourhood, might have done any amount of coining that he desired; but the disreputable character of the business deterred him from entering upon it, and he refused all orders for counterfeit money, whether for home or abroad.[316] He took an active part in the measures adopted by the leading manufacturers to prevent illegal coining; and the interest which he felt in commercial questions generally continued to keep his attention directed to the subject. One of the greatest evils of debased coinage, in his opinion, consisted in the serious losses that it occasioned to the labouring people; many of the lower classes of traders and manufacturers buying counterfeit money from the coiners at half its current value, and paying it in wages at full value, thereby wronging and defrauding the workmen of their hire. He came to the conclusion that the public interest imperatively required that the whole of the so-called copper coinage in circulation should be swept away and superseded by the issue of new coins, the intrinsic value and superior workmanship of which should be so palpable as effectually to suppress counterfeiting and its numerous evils. He had many interviews with the ministers of state on the subject; and we find him alleging in one of his letters to a friend that “his principal reason for turning coiner was to gratify Mr. Pitt in his wishes to put an end to the counterfeiting of money.”[317]

[316] “I lately received a letter from a Jew about making for him
a large quantity of base money, but I should be sorry ever to
become so base as to execute such orders. On the contrary I have
taken some measures to put a stop to the execution of them by
others, and if Mr. Butcher hath any plan of that sort he would
do well to guard against me; as I certainly shall endeavour all
in my power to prevent the counterfeiting of British or other
money--that being the principle on which I am acting.”--Boulton
to Matthews, December, 1787.

[317] Boulton to Woodman, 13th November, 1789.

Other circumstances, doubtless, concurred in keeping his attention directed to the subject. Thus, he had become largely interested in the copper-trade of Cornwall through the shares he held in the mines as well as in the Copper Mining Company; and he was himself a large holder of copper, which he had purchased from that Company at a time when they could not dispose of it elsewhere. It was also one of his favourite ideas to apply the power of the steam-engine to the stamping of money,--an idea of which he has the exclusive merit. As early as 1774, Watt says Boulton had many conversations with him on the subject; but it was not until the year 1786 that he successfully applied the engine for the first time in executing his contract with the East India Company for above a hundred tons of copper coin. James Watt, in his MS. memoir of his friend Boulton, gives the following account of the origin of his connexion with the coining business:--

“When the new coinage of gold took place in 178–, Mr. Boulton
was employed to receive and exchange the old coin, which served
to revive his ideas on the subject of coinage, which he had long
considered to be capable of great improvement. Among other things,
he conceived that the coin should all be struck in collars, to
make it exactly round and of one size, which was by no means the
case with the ordinary gold pieces; and that, if thus made, and of
one thickness, the purity of the gold might be tested by passing
it through a gauge or slit in a piece of steel made exactly to
fit a properly made coin. He had accordingly a proof guinea made,
with a raised border, and the letters _en creux_, somewhat similar
to the penny pieces he afterwards coined for Government. This
completely answered his intention, as any piece of baser metal
which filled the gauge was found to be considerably lighter;
or, if made to the proper weight, then it would not go through
the gauge. Such money was also less liable to wear in the pocket
than the common coin, where all the impression was prominent. The
proposals on this head were not however approved by those who then
had the management of His Majesty’s Mint, and there the matter
rested for the time.

“In 1786 Mr. Boulton and I were in France, where we saw a very
fine crown-piece executed by Mr. P. Droz in a new manner. It was
coined in a collar split into six parts, which came together when
the dies were brought in contact with the blank, and formed the
edge and the inscription upon it. Mr. Droz had also made several
improvements in the coining-press, and pretended to others in the
art of multiplying the dies. As, to his mechanical abilities, Droz
joined that of being a good die-sinker, Mr. Boulton contracted
with him to come over to England at a high salary and work at
Soho, Mr. B. having then the prospect of an extensive copper
coinage for the East India Company as well as a probability of
one from Government. In anticipation of this contract, a number of
coining-presses were constructed, and a steam-engine was applied
to work them.

“Mr. Droz was found to be of a very troublesome disposition.
Several of his contrivances, being found not to answer, were
obliged to be better contrived or totally changed by Mr. Boulton
and his assistants. The split collar was found to be difficult of
execution, and being subject to wear very soon when in use, it
was consequently unfit for an extensive coinage. Other methods
were therefore invented and applied by Mr. Boulton, and the use
of Droz’s collar was entirely given up.”[318]

[318] Watt says Droz “did not know so much on the subject as
Boulton himself did,” and being found incompetent, a pretender,
and disposed to be quarrelsome and litigious, he was shortly
after dismissed with liberal payment.

Although the machinery of the “Hôtel de Monnaie,” which Boulton erected at Soho, was found sufficient for the execution of his contract with the East India Company, its action was “violent and noisy,” and did not work to his satisfaction. He accordingly, with his usual determination to reach the highest degree of mechanical perfection, proceeded to remodel the whole of his coining machinery, in the course of which he introduced many entirely new contrivances and adaptations. In this he was ably assisted by William Murdock, Peter Ewart, James Lawson, and John Southern; but he himself was throughout the leading spirit, and took the principal part of the work. He originated numerous essential improvements in the rolling, annealing, and cleaning of the metal,--in the forging, multiplying, and tempering of the dies,--and in the construction of the milling and cutting-out machines,--which were worked out in detail by his assistants, after various trials, examined and tested by himself; while the arrangement and methodising of the system of coining--in a word, the organisation of the mint--was entirely his own work. “To his indefatigable energy and perseverance,” wrote Murdock many years later, “in pursuit of this, the favourite and nearly the sole object of the last twenty years of the active part of Mr. Boulton’s life, is, in a great measure, to be attributed the perfection to which the art of coining has ultimately attained.”[319]

[319] In a letter written by James Lawson to Matthew Robinson
Boulton shortly after his father’s death, he observed,--“God
only knows the anxiety and unremitting perseverance of your
father to accomplish the end; and we all aided and assisted
to the best of our powers, without ever considering by whose
contrivance anything was brought to bear. Indeed the bringing
of everything to bear was by your father’s perseverance, and
by his hints and personal attendance; for often he attended and
persevered in the experiments till we were all tired.”--Lawson
to M. R. Boulton, January 10, 1810. Boulton MSS.

While thus labouring at the improvement of his presses, dies, and the application of the steam-engine to the process of coining, Boulton was actively engaged in stirring up public opinion on the subject of an improved copper coinage. Six presses were fitted and ready for work at Soho by the end of 1788;[320] but the only considerable orders which had as yet been executed were the copper coinage of the East India Company, another for the American Colonies, and a silver coinage for the Sierra Leone Company; so that the Soho mint, notwithstanding the capital, skill, and labour bestowed upon it, remained comparatively idle. Boulton continued to stir up the Government through his influential friends;[321] and he was at length called before the Privy Council and examined as to the best means of preventing the issue of counterfeit money. He stated his views to them at great length; and the members were so much impressed by his statements that they authorised him to prepare and submit to them a model penny, halfpenny, and farthing. This he at once proceeded to do, and forwarded them to the Privy Council, accompanied by an elaborate report, setting forth the superiority of the new coins over those then issued from the Mint; demonstrating that their adoption would effectually prevent counterfeiting of base copper money, and offering to guarantee the execution of a contract for a new coinage, at “not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty’s Mint.”[322]

[320] We find numerous letters from Boulton to Joseph Harrison
relative to the execution of the presses, and the manner in
which the various details of the work were to be carried out.
On the 16th of January, 1788, he wrote,--“Push forward with the
utmost expedition six of the cutting-out presses and one of the
coining presses. I have engaged to have six of each kind at work
by this day four months.... I shall be obliged to work after
the rate of 1500 tons a year. I fear I must have eight presses
[eight were eventually erected] in which case I must lengthen
the building next the Gate road. Pray push forward, and be
silent.” Various details as to the working of the presses and
the execution of the coin were given in succeeding letters.

[321] To Lord Hawkesbury he wrote (14th April, 1789),--“In the
course of my journeys I observe that I receive upon an average
two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates,
&c.; and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the
spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class
of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the
wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the
subterraneous coiners 36 shillings’-worth of copper (in nominal
value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the
cheating is very large. The trade is carried on to so great
an extent that at a public meeting at Stockport in Cheshire,
in January last, the magistrates and inhabitants came to a
resolution to take no other halfpence in future than those of
the Anglesey Company [also an illegal coinage, though of full
weight and value of copper], and this resolution they have
published in their newspapers.”

[322] Boulton to the Lords of the Privy Council for Trade, 16th
December, 1787.

Although the specimens submitted by Boulton to the Privy Council were approved and eventually adopted, the officials of the Mint were enabled, by mere passive resistance, to delay the adoption of the new copper coinage for more than ten years. With their lumbering machinery they could not execute one-third part of the copper coin required for the ordinary purposes of currency; but they could not brook the idea of inviting a private individual to do that which they were found unable to do with all the powers of the State at their back. Rather than thus publicly confess their incompetency, they were satisfied to execute only one-third of the copper coinage, leaving it to the forgers and private coiners to supply the rest.

Boulton began to fear that the coining presses which he had erected with so much labour, contrivance, and expenditure of money, in anticipation of the expected Government contract, would remain comparatively idle after all. But he did not readily give up the idea of executing the new coinage. “Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon,” he wrote Mr. Garbett, “there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining in the reign of George III., as well as of checking the injurious and fatal crime of counterfeiting.” It occurred to him that it might be possible to overcome the obstructiveness of officialism by means of public opinion; and he proceeded with his usual vigour to rouse the trading interests throughout the country on the subject. He had a statement printed and extensively circulated among the leading merchants and manufacturers, to whom he also sent specimens of his model penny and halfpenny, the superiority of which to the rubbishy government and counterfeit coin then in circulation, was made apparent at a glance. He also endeavoured to act upon the Ministry through the influence of the King, to whom he presented copies of his model gold, silver, and copper coins; but though his Majesty expressed himself highly pleased with them, the question of their adoption still remained as much in suspense as ever. The appeals to the public were followed by numerous petitions to Parliament and memorials to the Privy Council against counterfeit money, and in favour of the proposed Boulton coinage.[323]

[323] In 1787, and again in 1789, we find the merchants, traders,
and others in Southwark urgently memorialising the Lords of the
Treasury on the subject. The Memorial addressed to them in the
latter year was signed by 800 of the principal inhabitants of
the Borough, and presented to Mr. Pitt by a deputation, headed
by Mr. Barclay, of Thrale’s Brewery. It set forth that the
counterfeits of copper coin had become a very serious burden
and loss, more especially to poor manufacturers, labourers, and
others, many of whom were compelled to take counterfeit copper
coin in payment of their commodities and wages; and concluded by
stating that, having seen specimens of a new copper coinage made
by Mr. Boulton of Birmingham (under order of the Lords of the
Privy Council) the Memorialists take leave to represent, that
such a coinage, from its greater weight and superior execution,
would in their opinion afford to themselves and the public
at large a certain remedy for the present grievance, and they
therefore strongly recommended its adoption.

In the mean time, to find employment for the coining presses he had set up, Boulton sought for orders from foreign and colonial governments. In 1790 and 1792 he executed a large quantity of beautiful copper coin[324] for the revolutionary government of France while we remained at peace with that country. The coin was afterwards suppressed when the government was overturned, to the great loss of the French contractors, who, nevertheless, honourably fulfilled their engagement with Mr. Boulton. In 1791 he executed for the colony of Bermuda a penny coinage; about the same time he turned out a large number of provincial halfpenny tokens;[325] and in 1794 he supplied the Madras Presidency with its four-faluce and two-faluce coinage. By way of exhibiting the artistic skill of Soho, and its ability to turn out first-class medal work, Boulton took advantage of the King’s recovery in 1789, to execute a very fine medal commemorative of the event. He sent the first specimen to his friend M. De Luc, the Queen’s Librarian at Windsor, for presentation to her Majesty, who expressed herself much pleased with the medal. In his letter to De Luc, Boulton stated that he had been the more desirous of turning out a creditable piece of workmanship, as the art of medalling was one of the most backward in England, and had made the least progress of any during the reign of his present Majesty. In preparing this medal, he had the co-operation of Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy, who rendered him valuable assistance in supplying the best models and portraits of the King from which a satisfactory likeness could be made, and he also inspected and corrected the engraving of the dies.

[324] The coins were: in 1790, a five-sous piece, “Pacte
Fédératif;” in 1792, a four sous “Hercule;” and a two sous
“Liberté.” Boulton’s reputation as a coiner abroad, brought
upon him while at Paris, a host of foreign schemers, one of
whom pretended that he had discovered an infallible method of
converting copper into gold! The schemer and his wife followed
Boulton to Soho, accompanied by a letter of introduction from
his friend Baumgarten. After taking measure of the schemer,
Boulton replied to Baumgarten as follows:--

“DEAR SIR,--Who the devil have you sent me? Is he
the angel or the demon Gabriel? Is he a seraphim or a
swindler? His propositions appear in such a questionable
form, that I know not whether to pronounce him F. or
R. or S., which are favourite letters amongst English
philosophers.

“Doth he mean to make gold by Alchemy, or after the family
receipt by which his mother and brother extracted two
hundred guineas from my simplicity when at Paris?

“I am content with the copper coinage, and shall leave
the golden one to you and Gabriel. The science of alchemy
soars so much above common sense that I never could
obtain so much as a peep into its lower regions. This
said Gabriel and his angel have, however, condescended to
adopt common sense so far as to take up their lodgings in
my cottage!

“The worst of all is, I am at this juncture extremely busy
and can’t bear interruption; but all that is a trifle
when compared with the magnitude of his project, viz.
converting 1500_l._ into 60,000_l._! But he says a small
experiment may be made in three days and three nights in
my laboratory. I must, however, own that I had rather be
in Jonah’s situation during that time.

“I wish not to offend this angelic couple, but I should
prefer that you had them back again, with all the favours
and profits intended for me. However, I cannot help
wishing you a better thing; for in spite of your last
favour I sincerely desire for you and all that are dear
to you, many many happy and prosperous years,

“Ever your faithful and affectionate friend,

“M. BOULTON.”

[325] The following were the principal provincial halfpenny tokens
executed at Soho:--1789, Cronebane and Dundee; 1791, Anglesey,
Cornwall, Glasgow, Hornchurch, Southampton; 1793, Leeds, London,
Penryn, John Wilkinson’s; 1794, Inverness, Lancaster; 1795,
Bishops Stortford; 1800, Enniscorthy.

The success of the medal commemorative of the King’s preservation was such as to induce Boulton to prosecute this department of business,--not that it was attended with profit, for some of his most costly medals were produced for presentation to individuals, and not for sale,--but that it increased the reputation of Soho, and reflected new credit upon the art manufacture of England.

In preparing the dies for his various coins and medals, we find Boulton seeking and obtaining the assistance of Nollekens, Flaxman, Bacon, and Wilton (sculptors); Mayer (King’s miniature painter); Gossett (modeller); but above all, he was mostly indebted for friendly help to Benjamin West, who cordially entered into his views of “establishing elegant records of the medallic arts in the reign of George III.” Boulton also executed a series of medals commemorative of the great events of the French Revolution, for which there must have been a considerable demand, as we find him sending at one time not less than twenty tons of historical medals to Messrs. Monneron his Paris agents. Amongst these, we may mention his medals of the following subjects:--The Emperor of Russia; Assassination of the King of Sweden; Restoration of the King of Naples; Final Interview of the King of France; Execution of the King of France; Execution of the Queen of France; Serment du Roi; Lafayette; J. J. Rousseau; and Respublica Gallica.[326]

[326] The following medals were also struck by Mr. Boulton at
Soho:--Prince and Princess of Wales on their marriage; Marquis
Cornwallis on the peace with Tippoo; Earl Howe on his victory of
the First of June; Hudson’s Bay Company; Slave Trade abolished;
Chareville Forest; General Suwarrow on his successes in Italy;
the Empress Catherine of Russia; in commemoration of British
Victories; Union with Ireland; on the peace of 1802; Battle of
Trafalgar; Manchester and Salford Volunteers; Frogmore Medal;
Prince Regent of Portugal; and the Emperor Alexander of Russia.
The execution of the Trafalgar Medal furnishes a remarkable
illustration of Boulton’s princely munificence. It was struck
on the occasion of Lord Nelson’s last victory, and presented
by him, with the sanction of government, to every officer and
man engaged in the action. He gave an additional value to the
present by confining the medal to this purpose only.

The Boulton MS. contains a brief description, in Mr. Boulton’s handwriting, of the Soho Mint in 1792, from which we make the following extract:--

“This Mint consists of eight large coining-machines, which are
sufficiently strong to coin the largest money in current use, or
even medals; and each machine is capable of being adjusted in a
few minutes, so as to strike any number of pieces of money from
fifty to one hundred and twenty per minute, in proportion to
their diameter and degree of relief; and each piece being struck
in a steel collar, the whole number are perfectly round and of
equal diameter. Each machine requires the attendance of one boy
of only twelve years of age, and he has no labour to perform. He
can stop his press one instant, and set it going again the next.
The whole of the eight presses are capable of coining, at the same
time, eight different sizes of money, such as English crowns,
6-livre pieces, 24-sous pieces, 12-sous, or the very smallest
money that is used in France. The number of blows at each press
is proportioned to the size of the pieces, say from fifty to
one hundred and twenty blows per minute, and if greater speed is
wanted, he has smaller machines that will strike 200 per minute.

“As the blows given by Mr. B.’s machinery are much more uniform
than what are given by the strength of men’s arms when applied
to the working of the common press, the dies are not so liable to
break, nor the spirit of the engraving to be so soon injured; yet
nevertheless, from the natural imperfections of steel, and other
unavoidable causes, some time will be lost in changing the dies
and other interruptions. However, it is decided by experience that
Mr. Boulton’s new machinery works with less friction, less wear,
less noise, is less liable to be out of order, and can strike
very much more than any apparatus ever before invented; for it is
capable of striking at the rate of 26,000 écus or English crowns,
or 50,000 of half their diameter, in one hour, and of working
night and day without fatigue to the boys, provided two sets of
them work alternately for ten hours each.”

When Boulton’s eight presses were in full work, the quantity of copper coin they turned out was very large. They could work off with ease twelve hundred tons of coin annually. The quantity of copper thus consumed was so great that a difficulty began to be experienced in keeping up the supply. Instead of being glutted with the metal, as Boulton had been before the Mint was started, he had now considerable difficulty in obtaining sufficient for his purposes. He seems to have been, in some measure, the victim of a combination to keep him out of a supply; for when the holders of copper found out that his contract with the East India Company required him to deliver the coin within a given time, and that he must have the metal, they raised the prices upon him, and copper went up about 6_l._ a ton. On this, the Birmingham white metal button-makers lowered the wages of their workmen, alleging as the cause the rise in the price of copper, “for which they must thank Mr. Boulton.” The usual strikes followed, with meetings of trades delegates and street commotions. Though Boulton had confidence in the Birmingham workmen generally, among whom he had the reputation of being a good master, he feared that, in their excited state, malice might stir them to mischief; and he apprehended an attack upon his manufactory. For this he accordingly made due preparation, placing a strong armed guard of his own workmen upon Soho, having the fullest confidence in their fidelity. Writing to his friend Wilson in Cornwall, he said,--

... “From the misrepresentations that have been made by the
delegates, this town has been greatly misguided, and I expect
every hour riots of a serious nature.

“Workmen are parading the streets with cockades in their hats.
They are assembled by beat of drum, and headed by Ignorance and
Envy, with their eyes turned towards Soho.

“Yet I am no competitor with the Birmingham trades. I follow no
business but what I have been myself the father of, and I have
done much more for the Birmingham manufactures than any other
individual. I have declined the trade of White Metal Buttons,
which is the article so much affected by the rise of metals, and
that in which the rioters are employed.

“I mix with no clubs, attend no public meetings, am of no party,
nor am I a zealot in religion; I do not hold any conversation with
any Birmingham persons; and therefore I know no grounds but what
may be suggested by wicked and envious hearts for supposing me to
be the cause of the late rise of copper.

“However, I am well guarded by justice, by law, by men, and by
arms.”[327]

[327] Boulton to Wilson, 26th February, 1792. Boulton MSS.

The danger, however, shortly passed, and the threatened attack was not made.

It was not until the year 1797 that Boulton was employed to execute a copper coinage for Britain. Ten years before, encouraged by the Lords of the Treasury, he had fitted up the Mint machinery at a heavy cost, in anticipation of this very order; and now, after executing coinages for many foreign governments, the order came at last. The new coins consisted of twopenny, penny, halfpenny, and farthing pieces. Altogether, about 4200 tons of these coins were issued from the Soho Mint between 1797 and 1806. So sensible were the authorities at the Royal Mint of the advantages of Mr. Boulton’s improvements in coining machinery, that they employed him to erect the new Mint on Tower Hill, one of the most complete establishments of the kind until then in existence. The plans of the new Mint, as regarded the distribution of the buildings connected with the mechanical department, were arranged by him; and the coining machinery and steam-engines were executed at Soho under his immediate direction, though he was at the time labouring under the infirmities of age as well as suffering under the pressure of a painful disease. He had also the honour of supplying Royal Mints for the Russian, Spanish, and Danish governments; and at a later period for Mexico, Calcutta, and Bombay. “In short,” said Mr. Watt, in the MS. memoir from which we have already quoted, “had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,--for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,--we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.”