Soho Foundry

2025-09-23T12:01:51Z

2605:8D80:13B4:45D0:DCA1:A20C:FA19:9A03: Fixed typo

{{Short description|Historical factory in Smethwick, England}}
{{Distinguish|Soho Manufactory}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox factory
| name = Soho Foundry
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| location = Birmingham, United Kingdom
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| owner = [[Matthew Boulton]]<br>[[James Watt]]
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[[File:Soho Foundry.jpg|right|thumb|Soho Foundry main gate]]
[[File:Blue plaque Soho Foundry.jpg|right|thumb|[[Blue plaque]] at the main gate]]
[[File:Soho Foundry Loop west canal bridge.jpg|right|thumb|[[Listed building|Listed]] canal roving bridge at entrance to Soho Foundry Loop canal (now dry)]]
'''Soho Foundry''' is a [[factory]] created in 1795 by [[Matthew Boulton]] and [[James Watt]] and their sons [[Matthew Robinson Boulton]] and [[James Watt Jr.]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1995|p=3}}</ref> at [[Smethwick]], [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]], [[England]] ({{gbmapping|SP037885}}), for the manufacture of [[steam engine]]s. Now owned by [[Avery Weigh-Tronix]], it is used for the manufacturing of [[Weighing scale|weighing machines]].

The early history of the Soho Foundry is of pivotal importance both to the history of the [[Industrial Revolution]] and to the study of the development of [[management theory]]. The Soho Foundry stood out from other factories of the day in the sophistication of its planning, its production processes and its management techniques; practising concepts that would not become commonplace until a century later.<ref name="USArmy">{{Citation|year=1988|title=Analysis of the effect of historical cultural changes relative to the development of affordability excursions to existing parametric cost models.|publication-place=Huntsville, AL|publisher=Cost Analysis Office, U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command|pages=46–47|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA200744|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408131247/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA200744|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 April 2013|access-date=2012-09-08}}</ref> Comparing its workings to the techniques of [[mass production]] and [[scientific management]] made famous by [[Henry Ford]] and [[Frederick Winslow Taylor]] in the United States in the early 20th century, the economist [[Eric Roll]] wrote "Neither Taylor, Ford nor any other modern experts devised anything in the way of plan that cannot be discovered at Soho before 1805".<ref>{{Citation|last=Agarwal|first=R.D.|year=1983|title=Organization and Management|publication-place=New York|publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill Education|page=22|isbn=0074515063|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwKzRGO3fCsC&pg=PA22|access-date=2012-09-08}}</ref>

==History==
The factory was built on the edge of the [[BCN Main Line|Birmingham Canal]] on land bought in 1795. The following year the foundry was open.

===Organisation===
The Soho Foundry was planned with a degree of sophistication unprecedented for a factory of its time.<ref name="USArmy" /> Its products were produced out of standardised [[interchangeable parts]], reducing the need to supervise work as it was executed, simplifying stock control and enabling more efficient repair of faults for customers.<ref name="Wren">{{citation|last=Wren|first=Daniel A.|author-link=Daniel A. Wren|year=1994|title=The Evolution of Management Thought|edition=4th|series=Wiley Series in Management|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|pages=[https://archive.org/details/evolutionofmanag0000wren_i9v7/page/47 47–48]|isbn=047159752X|url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionofmanag0000wren_i9v7/page/47}}</ref> Production processes were broken down into small tasks, enabling an extremely high degree of [[division of labour|specialisation among workers]]<ref name="Martin">{{citation|last=Martin|first=John|year=2005|title=Organizational Behaviour And Management|publisher=Cengage Learning EMEA|page=52|isbn=1861529481|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUDMDCAuRIoC&pg=PA52|access-date=2012-09-15}}</ref> – one document from 1801, for example, describes how a team of four specific workers was "to be constantly employed in fitting nozzles".<ref>{{citation|last=Roll|first=Eric|year=1968|title=An Early Experiment in Industrial Organization: History of the Firm of Boulton and Watt 1775-1805|publication-place=London|publisher=Routledge|page=181|isbn=0714613576|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDU_t8gRKR0C&pg=PA181|access-date=2012-09-15}}</ref> These tasks took place in a series of workshops spatially located along the [[assembly line|flow of production]], minimising the expense and time-wastage of the movement of materials through the works.<ref>{{Citation|last=Porter|first=Roy|year=2001|title=English Society in the Eighteenth Century|series=The Penguin Social History of Britain|publication-place=Harmondsworth|publisher=Penguin|page=475|isbn=0140138196|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJ0QXIEwSVEC&pg=PT475|access-date=2012-09-15}}</ref>

The accounting procedures of the foundry bore a striking similarity to modern processes,<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1995|p=2}}</ref> with each of the three main operating departments - the [[foundry|Foundry Department]] which made [[cast iron]] parts, the [[Forge|Smithy Department]] which made [[wrought iron]] parts, and the [[Machinist|Fitting Department]] which machined the parts and assembled them together - being operated as separate [[profit centre]]s.<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1995|p=8}}</ref>

The Soho Foundry was also innovative in the field of [[personnel management]], setting up [[executive development]] programmes, [[Sick leave|sickness benefit]] schemes and [[welfare spending|welfare]] programmes.<ref name="Nanda">{{Citation|last=Nanda|first=Jayanta K.|year=2006|title=Management Thought|publication-place=New Delhi|publisher=Sarup & Sons|pages=40–41|isbn=8176256234|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtjTyhi7g4QC&pg=PA40|access-date=2012-09-08}}</ref>

===Later development===
[[File:Thinktank Birmingham - James Watt & Co.jpg|thumb|Trade advertisement from the 'James Watt & Co.' era]]

By 1840 [[James Watt Jr.]] owned the factory after the death of the founding Boulton and Watt. He died in 1848 and his place was taken by H. W. Blake and the name changed from ''Soho Foundry'' to ''James Watt & Co.''.

In 1857 the [[Propeller#Ship and submarine screw propellers|screw]] engines for the steamship [[SS Great Eastern|SS ''Great Eastern'']] were built at the foundry. In 1860 a new mint was started at the Foundry, the Manufactory having closed in April 1850 by Matthew's grandson, [[Matthew Piers Watt Boulton]].

In 1861 tests were performed at the Soho Foundry for the [[London Pneumatic Despatch Company]].

In 1895 [[W & T Avery Ltd.]] acquired the Foundry as a going concern.

In 1912, the manager of the company William Edward Hipkins, died at the sinking of Titanic while he was travelling as a first class passenger. He was 55 and his body was not recovered.

==Today==
It is now the home of [[Avery Weigh-Tronix]] and [[Avery Berkel]], who make [[weighing scale]]s. The site includes [[William Murdoch]]'s cottage and overlooks [[Black Patch Park]].

There was a small [[museum]] there, open only by appointment, but is now closed.

The [[grade II listed]] ''Pooley'' gates, of cast iron, are marked with "a Liver bird above ropework draped with cloth, flanked by nautical symbols including oars, flags and bugles, ships' wheels and intersecting dolphins". A plaque reads: "These gates were cast by [[Henry Pooley & Son Ltd|Henry Pooley and Son]] about 1840 for the Sailors' Home, Liverpool. The Avery and Pooley Foundries were amalgamated in 1931". There was an active campaign to return these gates to Liverpool,<ref name="SLHS">{{cite web|url=http://www.dumbleton-williams.fsnet.co.uk/NEWSPAGE.html|title=Smethwick Local History Society website}}</ref> resulting in the approval by Sandwell Council in March 2011 of an application to return them. After restoration the gates were returned to Liverpool on 8 August 2011 and were re-erected under the name "The Sailors Home Gateway" in the pedestrian section of Paradise Street in Liverpool One, close to the original site of the Sailors' Home.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-14576433 BBC News - return of gates]</ref><ref>[http://www.liverpoolconfidential.co.uk/Culture/Architecture/Pooley-gates-return-to-Pool LiverpoolConfidential.com - return of gates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222225917/http://www.liverpoolconfidential.co.uk/Culture/Architecture/Pooley-gates-return-to-Pool |date=2012-02-22 }}</ref>

The building is a Grade II* [[listed building]]. The gates and adjacent canal bridge are Grade II listed.

The oldest working steam engine, built here, is the [[Smethwick Engine]] built to recover water used in the nearby [[lock (water transport)|canal locks]] at Smethwick Summit, and now in [[Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum]].

==See also==
*[[Soho Manufactory]]
*[[Liverpool Sailors' Home]]
*[[George Haden]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Literature==
* {{cite book
| last = Gale
| first = W.K.V.
| title = Soho Foundry
| publisher = W & T Avery Ltd.
| year = 1946
| location = Birmingham, England
| pages = 49
}}
* {{cite book
| last1 = Gale
| first1 = W.K.V.
| first2 = W.A.
| last2 = Seaby
| title = Boulton, Watt and the Soho Undertakings
| publisher = City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
| year = 1966
| location = Birmingham, England
| pages = 40
}}
* {{cite journal
|last = Demidowicz
|first = George
|title = The First Specialised Engine Building Works
|journal = Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter
|issue = 23
|pages = 3
|publisher = Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society
|location = Warwickshire, England
|year = 2006
|url = http://www.warwickshireias.org/newsletters/Newsletter23.pdf
|access-date = 2008-12-11
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719174425/http://www.warwickshireias.org/newsletters/Newsletter23.pdf
|archive-date = 2011-07-19
}}
*{{Citation|last=Williams|first=Robert|year=1995|title=Accounting for steam: The accounts of the Soho factory|volume=95/14|series=Accounting & Finance Working Papers|publication-place=Wollongong, NSW|publisher=University of Wollongong|url=http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079&context=accfinwp|access-date=2012-09-16}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050728082610/http://www.averyweigh-tronix.com/main.aspx?id=1.1.3.2&title=The+Soho+Foundry Avery Weigh-Tronix page on the factory]
*[http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Lib-Central-Archives-and-Heritage%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092751138&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper Archives of Soho] at Birmingham Central Library.
*[https://archive.today/20070223124101/http://www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/content/urbanform/planninganddevelopment/historicenvironment/listedbuildingslists/soho-foundry.en Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - former Bolton and Watt Pattern Store and Erecting Shop]
*[https://archive.today/20070928011426/http://www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/content/urbanform/planninganddevelopment/historicenvironment/listedbuildingslists/soho-foundry---office-row.en Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description – Office Row]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011403/http://www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/content/urbanform/planninganddevelopment/historicenvironment/listedbuildingslists/soho-foundry---gateway-and-gate.en Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description – Gateway and Gate]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070223055502/http://www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/content/urbanform/planninganddevelopment/historicenvironment/listedbuildingslists/soho-foundry---pooley-gates.en Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description – Pooley Gates]
*{{NHLE |num=1268451 |desc=Foundry – grade II*}}
*{{NHLE |num=1077142 |desc=Gateway and iron gate – grade II}}
*{{NHLE |num=1216116 |desc=Ornamental ''Pooley'' iron gates – grade II}}
*{{NHLE |num=1214940 |desc=Canal bridge at entrance to Soho Foundry Loop – grade II}}
*{{NHLE |num=1216064 |desc=Office row within factory main gate – grade II}}
*{{EHbarName|Soho+Foundry}}

{{coord|52.4972|-1.9475|display=title|region:GB_type:landmark}}

[[Category:Industrial Revolution]]
[[Category:1795 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1795]]
[[Category:Industrial archaeological sites in England]]
[[Category:History of Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:Smethwick]]

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Soho Foundry