What was here?
A marble wall monument to Matthew Boulton, with his bust set in a circular opening above two carved putti, one of them holding a picture of the Soho Manufactory. It is inside St Mary’s Church, Handsworth, on the north wall of the sanctuary.
History
A son’s tribute
Matthew Boulton died at Soho House on 17 August 1809 and was buried at St Mary’s, his parish church, on 24 August. Samuel Smiles, writing in 1865, says six hundred of his workmen followed the hearse.
His son, Matthew Robinson Boulton, commissioned a monument from the sculptor John Flaxman. Historic England’s list entry describes it as “a bust of Matthew Boulton (died 1809) with 2 putti below one of them holding a picture of the Soho Works”. The parish church’s own description has the bust “set in a circular opening above two putti”. Even here, Boulton is shown with his factory.
Watt’s words
The inscription was a joint effort. Smiles says it was composed with the help of James Watt, Boulton’s partner for a quarter of a century. It begins: “By the skilful exertion of a mind turned to Philosophy and Mechanics, The application of a taste correct and refined, And an ardent spirit of enterprize, he improved, embellished, and extended The Arts and Manufactures of his country”.
On the move
The monument has not always been where it is now. In 1865 Smiles described it as “in the side aisle of Handsworth Church”. In 1876–80 the church was largely rebuilt and the chancel extended eastwards. The Victoria County History later recorded the monument “in the chancel”, and today it is on the north wall of the sanctuary. The same rebuilding seems to have brought Boulton’s grave, once in the churchyard, inside the church.
Across the chancel is William Murdoch’s bust by Chantrey, and in its own chapel is Chantrey’s seated statue of Watt. The three men who made Soho famous are remembered together under one roof.
Watt helped choose the words that close Boulton’s inscription, and they still sum up the man best: he left “his Establishment of Soho a noble monument of his Genius, industry, and success”.
What happened here?
Boulton was buried at St Mary’s in 1809, and this memorial by John Flaxman was later put up by his son. It was moved within the church when the chancel was rebuilt in 1876–80.
Why it mattered
It is the principal memorial to Boulton in Birmingham from his own time, chosen by his family and worded with Watt’s help, and it shows him with the Soho works he built.
The same spot, then and now
1888–1913
Today
Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). Today: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What’s there now
What survives
The monument, inside the church.
Today
St Mary’s Church stands on Hamstead Road beside Handsworth Park. The monument is on the north wall of the sanctuary at the east end; Murdoch’s bust is opposite and the Watt chapel is nearby.
Sources and further reading
The date the monument was made and put up has not been found; it is given as after 1809. Its original position is described only as ‘the side aisle’ (Smiles, 1865). That the 1876–80 extension brought Boulton’s grave inside the church is an inference: Noszlopy and Beach (via Wikipedia) say the church was ‘later extended over the site of his grave’ without a date. The pin is placed from OpenStreetMap’s simplified outline of the church.
- Church of St Mary, Hamstead Road, Handsworth — National Heritage List for England entry 1076358 — Historic England
- Our History — St Mary’s Church Handsworth
- Lives of Boulton and Watt — Samuel Smiles, John Murray, London, 1865. funeral and n. 407 (inscription)
- A History of the County of Warwick, vol. 7: The City of Birmingham — Religious History: Churches built before 1800, pp. 361–379 — W. B. Stephens (ed.), Victoria County History, 1964. St Mary, Handsworth
- Soho Depicted: prints, drawings and watercolours of Matthew Boulton, his manufactory and estate, 1760–1809 (PhD thesis) — V. A. Loggie, University of Birmingham, 2011. appendix (Flaxman, commissioned by M. R. Boulton)
- Matthew Boulton — Wikipedia. lead only: grave, citing Noszlopy and Beach 1998
- OpenStreetMap way 136485928 (St Mary’s Church, Handsworth) — OpenStreetMap contributors
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