Matthew Boulton to be honoured with Westminster Abbey memorial

Renowned manufacturer helped lay the foundations for Britain's Industrial Revolution

A Birmingham-born manufacturer and entrepreneur who helped lay the foundations for Britain's Industrial Revolution is to be honoured with a memorial in Westminster Abbey.

Matthew Boulton, an 18th-century industrialist, is renowned for the steam engines produced by his partnership with Scottish engineer James Watt.

A statue commemorating Watt's role in British history was placed in the abbey in 1825. Officials will now work with the Birmingham Museums Trust on the design of the new memorial to Watt's business partner, which is expected to be unveiled next year.

Former Astronomer Royal Sir Arnold Wolfendale, one of the initiators of the memorial project, said: “Boulton was a born promoter and has lessons for us today – it is not only scientists and engineers who are important in introducing new technology, but men such as Boulton too.”

The abbey's dean, The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said: “We are delighted that Matthew Boulton's major contribution to British and world history will finally be recognised with this new memorial.”

Boulton went into partnership with Watt in 1775, and the pair pioneered the use of the steam engines in the cotton spinning industry.

From 1788 the partnership also ran the Soho Mint in Birmingham, manufacturing currency for the UK and many other parts of the world.

Boulton was a fellow of the Royal Society and was honoured by the Bank of England in 2011 when his portrait and an image of his Soho Manufactory, built near Birmingham in the 1760s, was placed on £50 notes.