The Man who built Cubitts Town
and the Dilham & Buxton
Cubitt Families

I am grateful to Roger Wilsher of London for drawing my attention to errors which occurred on this page previously.

There were two William Cubitts who are sometimes confused especially since both came from Norfolk and were born within a few years of each other. One was born at Buxton and the other at Dilham, Norfolk which is 10 miles away.

While the following only gives brief details about Cubitt's Town on the Isle of Dogs, the lives of the two Cubitt families is so interesting I feel it is worth giving it space here.

The two Cubitt families have left us a heritage of wonderful buildings, windmills, railway architecture and bridges which scatter the land.

The Buxton Cubitt Family

This Cubitt family had 3 famous sons being the children of Jonathan Cubitt (baptised 7 Sep 1760 at Buxton the son of William Cubitt and Mary Hall, of Mattishall, Norfolk who had another son Thomas baptised 21 August 1757 at Buxton). Jonathan, who came from a humble background, was described as "a Coltishal farmer". He was also a carpenter and he married Agnes Scarlett on 1 Sep 1785 at St Johns Sepulchre, Norwich.

Their first child Mary Agnes was baptised 2 July 1786 at Buxton. Their second child Thomas was born 26 February 1788. There followed a daughter Sarah bap 30 August 1789, William bap 19 April 1791, possibly a George born 9 Feb 1793 at Great Yarmouth and finally Lewis born in 1799.

Thomas Cubitt of Buxton:
Following the Jonathan's death in 1806 Thomas the eldest son signed on as a joiner on a frigate going to India and on his return two and a half years later he set himself as a carpenter in Eagle Street, London.

In 1807 Mary Agnes, his sister, married Andrew Cuthell and had two sons, Andrew and John, and Thomas, after his sister died in 1812, took a large part in their upbringing. Both her children entered the building trade and Andrew eventually became Thomas's right hand man.

Thomas started building in around 1815. In those days all the various building trades contracted separately for the construction of a building. He soon realised that this method was inefficient and slow. As a master carpenter Thomas Cubitt could accept contracts, tender for work and employ other men to do the work under his supervision. He was soon designing, laying out and building streets, squares, whole districts, employing a wide range of specialised craftsmen and architects (including his brother Lewis Cubitt) on his staff in order to be able to provide a 'one stop shop'.

He showed consideration for the welfare of his men and regarded many of them as his friends opening a workman's library in London and a schoolroom for their children. He supported charities and churches and once said 'If you wait till people thank you for doing anything for them, you will never do anything. It is right for me to do it, whether they are thankful for it or not'.

In 1819 he married Mary Anne Warner. Their children were:

Anne probably born about 1820 who died 28 August 1856 at Denbies, Dorking

Mary probably born about 1822 who died 22 June 1890 at Westminster

George Cubitt was born 4 June 1828 at Clapham Common, Battersea, later 1st Baron Ashcombe, and who married 14 June 1853 Laura, daughter of James Joyce and Sarah Brakspear, and he died 26 Feb 1917 at Princes Gate, Kensington.

Sophia born 27 June 1830 at Clapham and who married Edgar Alfred Bowring in 1853 at Clapham. (GRO: June qtr 1853 Wandsworth)

Fanny bap at Clapham in 1832 and buried at Norwood in 1843.

William born about 1834 at Clapham and died 23 Oct 1891 at Princes Gate.

Lucy born about 1835 and died unmarried 22 Aug 1898 at Gray, Haslemere.

Caroline born about 1837 died 14 July 1845 buried at Norwood.

Arthur born about 1841 died 10 April 1843 buried at Norwood

Charles bap 27 Feb 1842 became a cleric and married Alicia Matilda Trueman (dau of Charles Joseph Trueman of Oakwell Blean, Blean, Kent), on 25 October 1870 at Blean, Kent. Charles died 22 Sep 1891 at Lewes Crescent, Brighton.

Thomas Cubitt was responsible for many large London projects including Belgravia centred around Belgrave Square, Pimlico, much of Bloomsbury and the East front of Buckingham Palace. He built three thousand feet of the Thames Embankment at his own expense.

Elsewhere, he build a similarly large development in Brighton called Kemp Town, and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight which was completed in 1851.

Queen Victoria regarded as 'her' Cubitt and after his death said of him "In his sphere of life, with the immense business he had in hand, he is a real national loss. A better, kindhearted or more simple, unassuming man never breathed."

After building a house at Polesdon Lacey for Joseph Bonsor, a successful city stationer and bookseller, he got a taste for living in the country but it was not until 1850 that he purchased Denbies, near Dorking, Surrey and started building for himself. Additionally he planted thousands of trees and shrubs and modernising the farm and estate buildings.

Soon after its completion 20 December 1885 he died. He was buried at Norwood cemetery and his tomb, ten ton slab of granite covering a brick vault, is now a Grade II listed building.

A statue of him has just been unveiled in Dorking, close to his former Denbies estate at Ranmore overlooking the town. It depicts Thomas holding a brick measure and standing on a platform as though he was supervising a building site.

William Cubitt of Buxton:
William Cubitt (1791-1863) (Thomas's brother) built Cubitt's Town and was Lord Mayor of London. He also went into the Navy and left in 1806.

In 1814 he married Elizabeth, born 1792, daughter of William Scarlett of Norfolk who may have been related to his mother, Agnes Scarlett.

He was a partner in Thomas's building firm but left in about 1827 to set up his own firm, concentrating on civil engineering contracting. The reasons for the split are not clear. William could have been concerned about the high risks of speculative building, or it may have been that Thomas's style was too autocratic, and William wanted to be more involved in policy decisions.

He built much of the southern section of the London & Birmingham Railway, including the sections from Boxmoor to Tring and Euston to Camden, the portico and the original station buildings at Euston, and Camden engine shed.  Other contracts included the new Fishmongers' Hall (1831-33), repairs to Westminster Bridge (1838-44) and rebuilding the Stock Exchange (1853).

In November 1831 William and Lewis Cubitt offered (and eventually completed the work) to 'Erect and Finish the New Buildings for Mr. Babbage's Calculating Engine in East Street Manchester Square'.
He was also responsible for the reclaiming and development of Cubitt Town (named after him) in the Isle of Dogs to house workers in the shipyards and docks (1840-50).  

In the 1840s he leased some of the Countess of Glendale's land (inherited from her father William Mellish) for a 99-year period. He needed space for a builder's yard and works, and he chose a site in Wharf Road (now Saunders Ness Road) for joinery, carpenter's shop, brickyard, pottery and stores. He sub-let the rest of the land - to industries along the river's edge, and to other builders on the inland side.

He also helped to finance the building of Christ Church, giving the Isle of Dogs its own parish for the first time in 1857. He retired completely from the firm in 1854.

In 1856 his company built Hays Wharf (where China tea was unloaded) on the Thames river front for the Hay's Wharf Company, the largest and most powerful of the dockside companies with property all along the river front as far as Tower Bridge.

He was Sheriff of London in 1847 and Lord Mayor in 1860/61 & 1861/62; MP for Andover from 1847 to 1861 and in 1862; and Prime Master of the Fishmongers' Company.

Lewis Cubitt of Buxton:
Lewis Cubitt was born 29 Sep 1799 and died 9 June 1883 at Lewes Crescent, Brighton. He married Sophia Kendall, born in 1811 the daughter of Howard Edward Kendall, (Lewis being his pupil) on 23 Jan 1830 at St Nicholas, Brighton, Sussex. She died 17 February 1879 at Talbot Square, Westminster and was buried Kensal Green Cemetery.

Their son Lewis was born 5 December 1834, bap 31 Dec 1834 at St Pancras Old Church, married Charlotte Ann Kennard 31 Mar 1869 at Christ Church, Paddington and died 20 November 1872 at Ore House, Hastings and was buried at Ore Cemetery.

Lewis Cubitt senior was the architect of (amongst other buildings) King's Cross Station built in 1851-2 on the site of a former smallpox and fever hospital. The hotel for the station, also by Cubitt, was built in 1854 as a separate curved building.

In between 1848 and 1850 a brick viaduct over the river across Mimram valley at Digswell near Welwyn was built (by Thomas Brassey) to his design. This was part of the London to Peterborough railway line (now the East Coast Main Line) and designed to take only two rail lines which now proves to be a bottleneck. The viaduct is 475 metres long with 40 arches up to 30 metres high.

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Sir William Cubitt of Dilham:
Less than ten miles away from where the Buxton Cubitts were born is Dilham where the other William Cubitt (1785-1861) and Benjamin Cubitt were born to Joseph and Hannah (Lubock) Cubitt who died 1841 aged 86.

The family,which became noted for its civil engineers, later moved to Southrepps, then to Bacton Wood Mill, near North Walsham.

In 1800 William was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker and joiner and in 1807 invented and patented what became the standard design for self-regulating windmill sails for automatic operation of the mill regardless of wind speed (within limits), then set up in business at Horning as a millwright.

1812 to 1821 was employed by Ransome & Son of Ipswich, agricultural implement makers eventually becoming a partner. Among his achievements can be listed that he invented and/or engineered:
* prison treadwheels, which he developed to keep prisoners occupied and to provide a power source - they were not originally intended as a punishment.
* gas works (Ipswich & elsewhere).
* water supplies (Reading & elsewhere).
* canals - Thomas Telford's successor on various schemes.
* river navigations - notably the River Severn.
* harbours - Lowestoft being the first.
* railways - including the London to Dover line (via Tonbridge &
Folkestone) and London to York (via Peterborough).

William Cubitt  also provided engineering consultancy for the Government, particularly in Ireland, and was consulting engineer for the Great Exhibition of 1851(the original Crystal Palace) later dismantled it and re-erected it on Sydenham Hill, for which he received his knighthood at Windsor Castle on 23 October 1851.

He married Abigail Sparkhall of Ashmanhaugh, Norfolk on 26 June 1809 at Ashmanaugh. (She was the daughter of Bower Sparkhall and Hannah Cubitt.) They had three children, their son Joseph (see below) becoming a well-known railway engineer. Abigail died whilst the children were young, and in 1820 he married Elizabeth Jane Tiley of Reading.

William Cubitt died on 13 October 1861 at Clapham Common and is buried in West Norwood Cemetery.

Joseph Cubitt (1811-1872) was also of the Dilham branch of the Cubitt family:
William's only son Joseph Cubitt was born at Horning, Norfolk on 24 November1811; and died in London on 7 December 1872. He was civil engineer on the GNR, SER and other railways.

He was apprenticed at Fenton, Murray & Jackson, Leeds, where his uncle Benjamin Cubitt was engineer. He designed (with H Carr) the cast iron and steel Blackfriars Bridge in London which opened in 1869 and on which there is now a plaque.

After 2 years he went to assist his father on the SER until 1846 when he became chief engineer, GNR, again under his father. On his father's retirement in 1855 he became consulting engineer to the GNR. Other works included the SER Ashford Canterbury Ramsgate and Margate line, completed in 1846; the LCDR from 1853; Oswes try & Newtown Railway, completed 1860; Rhymney Railway 1857-8; Weymouth pier; and the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway 1860-4. He was consulting engineer to many other projects including from 1860 the extension of the LCDR over Blackfriars Bridge into the City of London, opened 6.11.1869. Elected MICE 21.1.1840. Min Proc Instn Civ. Engrs, 1874-5, 39, 248-51

Benjamin Cubitt (1795-1848), William's brother, was born at Dilham, Norfolk and was apprenticed to his brother as a millwright. Through his life he was in charge of engine and machinery works for several companies and was appointed locomotive superintendent of the newly formed Great Northern Railway in 1846, ordering carriages and locomotives, in until his death.

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Even the Institution of Civil Engineers gets the two William Cubitts confused. They have a committee room called the Cubitt Room, the plaque in which clearly refers to Sir William Cubitt (2), but includes amongst his achievements that he was a contractor, which he never was.