Henry Joseph Whitlock (photographer), photograph of a lifetime wax medallion of Matthew Boulton, frontispiece in Langford, 'A Century of Birmingham Life', vol. 2, 1868. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-F-2001-7-65B-1 (Public Domain). Cropped and downscaled. · Albumen photograph by Henry Joseph Whitlock of Birmingham, named on the print, of a wax medallion of Matthew Boulton 'modelled from life' then owned by Mr John Rabone Junior, pasted in as the frontispiece of volume 2 of John Alfred Langford's 'A Century of Birmingham Life' (Birmingham, 1868), held by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (object number RP-F-2001-7-65B-1, 'Portret in was van Matthew Boulton op 24 juni 1787'), dated by the museum c. 1858 - in or before 1868. The printed caption under the oval reads 'From a Wax Medallion modelled from life in the possession of Mr. John Rabone Junr' and 'Photographed by Mr. H. J. Whitlock, Birmm', and the sitter's signature 'Matthew Boulton' and the date '24th June 1787' are printed above it. The file is the oval portrait cropped from the museum's 5834 x 4590 pixel scan of the open book (crop 1560 x 2160) and downscaled to 867 x 1200 with no upscaling. · Public Domain Mark 1.0 and CC0 as stated in the Rijksmuseum's own item record; the wax relief is from the 1780s and the photograph was made and published in Birmingham in the 1860s (public domain by age)

entrepreneur · Early Modern

Matthew Boulton

1728–1809

Known For

entrepreneurialindustrialtechnologicalinnovation

Wikidata

Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.

Trait Constellation

Key Achievements

Birmingham manufacturer who became James Watt's partner in 1775 and put Watt's steam engine into commercial production at Soho; he had taken over John Roebuck's share of the patent as settlement of a debt, and almost 500 engines had been installed in Britain and abroad by 1800.

Built the Soho Manufactory near Birmingham in 1762 to make small metal goods such as buttons, buckles, Sheffield plate and ormolu, with design, production and marketing under his own control and labour-saving machinery; Birmingham Museums links the trade to Birmingham becoming 'the toy-shop of the world'.

Set up the steam-powered Soho Mint in 1788 and struck Britain's 1797 copper coinage, including the cartwheel penny, with the metal worth the face value; he also supplied mints abroad and machinery for the Royal Mint in London.

Moments That Reveal Them

In the campaign to extend Watt's patent, Boulton kept a 'List of Friends on the Engine bill' naming 77 people plus the minority lords, against opposition led by Edmund Burke; an Act extended the term.

This is consistent with someone who worked systematically through personal networks to win a business cause. Persuasiveness

After John Roebuck's failure in 1772, Boulton took over Roebuck's share of Watt's engine patent in settlement of a 1,200-pound claim and, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, put in all his capital and what he could borrow, nearly going bankrupt before the engine paid.

This is consistent with a willingness to stake his own resources on an unproven venture. Risk Tolerance

Turning Points

In 1775, after years of making small metal goods at Soho, he became Watt's partner in the steam-engine business, which the Science Museum Group records as his most profitable venture.

This is consistent with a manufacturer who moved his enterprise toward a new technology once he judged its demand to be large. Opportunity Sensing