William Cubitt

Disambiguations

There are two principal difficulties in researching Sir William Cubitt of Buxton 17th April 1791 – 28th October 1863.

Firstly, disambiguating Sir William Cubitt [of Buxton], brother of Thomas Cubitt and later Mayor of London, from his direct contemporary Sir William Cubitt [of Dilham – 10 miles or so from Buxton] the great railway engineer. They are often confused sometimes to quite a crazy extent, as in this extract from Change at Kings Cross, Hunter & Thorne, 1990, pg. 60.

‘When Sir William Cubitt and his son Joseph came to plan the Great Northern Railway from King’s Cross…….The architect, Sir William Cubitt’s nephew Lewis Cubitt…….’

Which neatly mangles up the lineage of the two Cubitt clans that were not at all closely related if at all. And inserts Lewis Cubitt into Sir William Cubitt’s of Dilhams’s close family thus sowing plentiful confusion. Cubitt is a reasonably common name in Norfolk but an interesting attempt to disambiguate the various branches and clans Cubitt [Collection for a History of the Family of Cubitt, of Norfolk, Walter Rye, Samuel Miller & Co, 1873 pg. 16] in which Thomas’ branch is termed The Cubitts of Frettenham.

Secondly, there is an erroneous and widely propagated assumption that it was Thomas Cubitt’s company that was merged into Holland & Hannen and Cubitts Ltd. This is not the case at all as it was infact William Cubitt’s [William Cubitt & Co – sometimes later styled W. Cubitt & Co] company that was acquired.

This conflation, which seems quite deliberately propagated, started with the publication of the 1920’s book Holland & Hannen and Cubitts Ltd, The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, London, 1923. In the front of which is, in pride of place a photo of Thomas Cubitt and not William and goes on to confidently state [pg. 9]

‘Thomas Cubitt, the founder, was the friend and confidant of Queen Victoria…..’

The reasons for this conflation are pretty clear as Thomas was the better known brother for his development of Belgravia and as builder to the royal family.

This conflation was also further sustained in Hermione Hothouse’s book Thomas Cubitt, Mater Builder, Universal Books, NY, 1971 which is puzzling as she had access to the full archive and in the 1970’s pamphlet that Hobhouse produced for the company. Hobhouse probably relied on the firms complied history as none of the partnership documents survived. But in a personal conversation with Lord he admit very clear that this was an error.

It is also possible that Thomas Cubitt’s business carried on by the Waller family until the late 1800’s was brought back into the fold of Holland & Hannen and Cubitts Ltd.  It is possible this could be reflected in 26 volumes of papers from Holland and Hannen & Cubbits, some from 1856 onwards but none pre 1855, which were deposited in the Wolverhampton City Archives [ref DX-912] in 2003 by Tarmac Construction. These records all relate to William Cubitt & Co and are yet to be the subject of extensive study.

Life

Born 7th April 1791 in Buxton.

Text from Ranmore War Memorial Website:-

On Christmas Day 1814 at St Andrew’s Holborn William married Elizabeth Scarlett (born 1792), daughter of William Scarlett of Norfolk, possibly related to his mother Agnes Scarlet(t). They had one son and at least eight daughters:  Mary (1815) who presumably died in infancy, Mary No 2(1817), Eliza (1818), Thomas (1819), Marianne (1821-?1823), Laura (1823), Rosa (1824), Emma (1826) and Maria (1827), all baptised at St Pancras Old Church except Mary the firstborn, baptised at the church where her parents had married.  It has not been possible to trace all of their children forward, but Laura married Joseph Francis Oliffe, later a distinguished physician who was knighted, and was one of the executors of William’s substantial estate.¹

In 1831 Lewis went back to William, and “W Cubitt and Co” became, like Thomas Cubitt, one of the foremost London contractors. They constructed much of the southern sections of the London and Birmingham Railway, including Euston to Camden and Boxmoor to Tring, as well as Euston Station with its famous portico and the Camden engine shed. They built many important structures (including Covent Garden and the new Fishmonger’s Hall), they repaired Westminster Bridge, and rebuilt the Stock Exchange.

Like his brother Thomas, William also did some speculative building, reclaiming and developing a large area in the Thameside Isle of Dogs (still known as “Cubitt Town”) in order to house workers in the adjacent shipyards, docks and factories.  William also created many local businesses, and the firm had its own extensive works there covering 25 acres.²

In 1843 William bought Bedford Hill House in Balham, only a mile or so from his brother’s house at Clapham, and in the Post Office Directory of 1851, his address was Clapham Common South Side, when he was described as “Builder”. 

For his country house William bought Penton Lodge near Andover in Hampshire, renovating the building and adding wings.  Many years later it became a recuperation hospital for US airmen during World War 2, and then a girls’ boarding school.  It is now once again a family home called Penton Park, also hosting weddings and corporate events.

In 1851 William retired completely from his firm [check if this is true as there are property transactions in his name later].

He died at Penton Lodge on 28th October 1863 aged 72 and was buried on 2nd November.

Work

1] William’s estate we truly huge by any standards and was valued at approximately £4 million in 1863 monies.

2] Although it is very hard to understand how this ever made any money as the high end houses never took off and there were significant issues with damp in some of the lower floors of the houses even when recently built. Belgravia it was not.