Joseph and the nasty swelling.

Byline: chris upton

You will be hearing much of Matthew Boulton over the next few months. As the bicentenary of his death approaches, Birmingham's great industrialist will be feted in a major exhibition, a conference and a number of books. Already you may have put him on an envelope.

May I, then, serve you up a little aperitif to the more substantial offerings to come? I came across the story last week in the archives.

In 1761 a new school opened in Old Meeting Street in Birmingham. The Protestant Dissenting Charity School took in a dozen or so poor children, maintained them, gave them an education, and (at the age of 14 years) found the man apprenticeship. The school was funded by subscriptions (of one guinea), and each subscriber had the right to nominate a deserving girl or boy, once a place became available.

The only bar to entry was if, in the opinion of the school surgeons, the child was likely to introduce any "epidemical disorder or scrophulous complaint" into the house.

Matthew Boulton was an early subscriber to the school, and in December 1768, his turn came to nominate a child.

He chose one Joseph Brant. The latter was examined by the surgeon(Boulton's friend and fellow member of the Lunar Society, William Small), and admitted.

By March 1769, however, Joseph Brant had developed a nastys welling on his knee, and it was only the seriousness of it which prevented the child from being removed immediately. By April the affliction was much worse, and the only solution appeared to be the amputation of the boy's leg.

We might expect the child to have been removed to a hospital (except that, as yet, Birmingham didn't have one), but no, the surgeons elected to take the leg off in the school. Once the operation had been performed, however, Joseph Brant would have to go. Those were the rules.

At this point Matthew Boulton intervened on the child's behalf. His generous gift of five guineas was enough to persuade the school governors that, on this occasion, the regulations could be bent a little. Master Brant could stay on in the school until he had fully recovered.

The governors went even further than this. Joseph might be also fitted with a wood enleg and maintained at the school until the usual leaving age (14), as long as Mr Boulton was willing to take him on as an apprentice at the end of this time. In June 1769 Boulton "cheerfully" agreed to do so.

All of which only serves to enhance Matthew Boulton's reputation as a kindly soul. Sadly, however, such kindness did not have a happy ending for the lad in question. By February 1770, and still at the school, Joseph Brant was discovered to have a "scrophulous" complaint on his arm as well. He was really not a lucky little boy.

With every sign that his arm was getting worse, Joseph was packed off back to his mother, and Boulton was told he could make another choice of child instead.

Dr Chris Upton is Senior Lecturer in History at Newman University College in Birmingham.