3-017-210 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Handsworth Church, Birmingham, the burial-place of James Watt, 1865. 'The tomb of James Watt, adorned by Chantrey's noble statue, is in a small chapel at the south side of the chancel of Handsworth Church. Here the narrow limits of the chapel, with its window overshadowed by trees, enhance the solemn and imposing character of the figure. On the sides of the chancel are tablets to the memory of Boulton and Murdock. This is a fitting spot to contemplate the lives of these men, associated as they were at the neighbouring works of Soho. Boulton had there established the first model manufactory, which was visited as such by men of eminence from all countries. Murdock first arranged an apparatus for the production of coal gas, and Watt improved and applied the powers of the steam-engine. It is not too much to presume that the united labours of these men may have been to some extent the foundation of the pre-eminence of the great manufacturing town. The lesson to be learned from their lives may be read in the motto engraved on the massive base on which the statue of Watt is placed - "Ingenio et labore" [by natural ability and hard work].' From "Illustrated London News", 1865.