SOHO FOUNDRY HISTORY
Text Box: The famous Soho Foundry is in Smethwick near Birmingham in the West Midlands. It is currently owned by Avery Weigh-Tronix the UK trading name of ITW (Illinois Tool Works of USA). The site is one of the world’s most important sites relating to the industrial revolution having been opened by Matthew Boulton and James Watt in 1796 to build steam engines. William Murdock the inventor of Gas Lighting also worked on the site. The 25 acre site contains some of the most important industrial heritage buildings in the world including a foundry, old mint, the tunnel complex, boiler house, workers’ cottages dating from 1801, Victorian office buildings, and an office block dating from the 1920s as well as three second world war air raid shelters. Andrew Lound has spent many years researching the history of the site and has prepared a number of presentations, which incorporate historic and modern images, video and music. Andrew Lound is former Curator of the Avery Historical Museum (now closed) which has given him a unique insight into the history of the famous Foundry. He also has extensive knowledge of the history of W. & T. Avery Limited and maintains an extensive archive of material collected by himself over many years. He has written one book about Avery’s and is planning to follow it with others over the coming years. THE AVERY HISTORICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION incorporating THE LOUND-AVERY ARCHIVE This private archive contains thousands of historic images of Soho Foundry covering the entire history of the site. The archive of images and documents is divided into the following sections: 1796-1894 Boulton & Watt, James Watt & Company 1895-1912 W&T Avery The Hipkins Era 1913-1919 W&T Avery Transition and WW1 1920-1938 W&T Avery Inter-war period 1939-1945 W&T Avery WW2 1946-1969, 1970s, 1980s The Avery Historical Museum 1927-2014 W.A. Benton Collection—The History of Weighing W&T Avery Catalogue collection 1837-1960 The Avery Family The archive, along with the Avery Archive at the Birmingham Archives is a vital source of information on the history Averys. Research into weighing equipment, Averys, the history of weighing, Soho Foundry utilizing the archive may be carried out by Andrew Lound on a fee basis. E-mail for details. Professional organizations and researchers may cooperate with the AHRA. Odyssey Log

Presentations Relating to Soho Foundry
Text Box: Contact# enquiries@andrewlound.com