Andrew Cuthell: more than Thomas Cubitt’s nephew
Andrew Cuthell
Andrew Cuthell along with James Hopgood and Thomas Waller were the key members of Thomas Cubitt’s team from the 1830’s until well after his death in 1855.
Thomas Cubitt’s elder sister Mary Agnes married Andrew Cuthell Snr. in 1807 at St Andrew’s Holborn. The couple had two sons John Cooper Cuthell and Andrew Cuthell junior. Both parents died while their sons were young: Mary Agnes in 1812 (very soon after giving birth to Andrew Jnr.), the father Andrew Snr., bookseller of Holborn, died in 1821.
In his Will of 2nd April 1821 [proved on 29th October 1821 in London click to open a full PDF] Andrew Cuthell senior made the 33 year old Thomas Cubitt executor of his estate and guardian of his young sons and, thereafter, Thomas undertook much of his nephews’ upbringing.
Both of the Cuthell sons entered the building trade initially under Thomas’ wing. John then set out on his own, less successful, path.
As shown by his Freedom of the City of London certificate, Andrew junior was bound as apprentice to Thomas Cubitt in 1826. By 1829 Andrew was working as a clerk in the Cubitt office [source?]. He remained with his uncle’s firm all his life, as Thomas’s building clerk, which is a far more significant job than it sounds, an effective right hand man, gradually taking over more and more responsibility.
The earliest mention we have found of Andrew Cuthell is a note on document relating to the Lyall Estate [Buckinghamshire Archives D/LO/6/15/18] dated December 1839 – Andrew Cuthell’s name is annotated in pencil in another hand. It is perfectly possible that the annotation was added well after the date that the document was produced. We are looking to see if he signed or witnessed any deeds as this would be a more certain way of ascertaining the connection.
The full Cuthell vs Cubitt and others papers survive in the Chancery Rolls held at The National Archives.
Andrew had wide responsibilities saw potential buyers, wrote letters of terms to would-be builders, and ordered quantities of materials as well as vernally pouring oil over troubled waters. Many of his letters survive in Thomas Cubitt & Co’s extant letter books. The letter below was written only a few days before Thomas Cubitt died of throat cancer.
Prior to his marriage, Andrew lived in his uncle Thomas Cubitt’s house in Clarence Road, Clapham Park.
Andrew married in 1845, his bride was Mary Anne Snell, daughter of the well known cabinet-maker, and they had at least four children: twin sons Thomas George and Charles Edward, a third son William Andrew, and a daughter Mary Sybil. Andrew built his family a house called Laleham on the other side of Clarence Road from Thomas Cubitt’s Lincoln House.
[Andrew Cuthell’s own independent speculations in Pimlico and Clapham].
1835 Upper Ecclestone St – Kemp – > Lord Ducie till 1853 -> 1853 passed to Andrew Cuthnell who improved it -> Marquis of Downshire. Quantum?
61 Warwick Square – ultimately became Andrew Cuthnell’s home. [Is this accurate – Warwick Lodge – which was his home was actually 42 St George’s Drive, London SW1V 4BT??]
[The Britton Club celebrating the life of John Britton the illustrator [might need to cite the following articles in The Builder: 5 August 1843, p. 313; 1 March 1845, p. 105; 24 April 1845, p. 214; 17 May 1845, P. 247]
In the 1851 census of Clapham, Andrew Cuthell was described as Surveyor of Building, and the Post Office Directory of that year designated him Esquire.
When Thomas Cubitt died in 1855, in his will [England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 for Thomas Cubitt, PROB 11: Will Registers 1855-1859 Piece 2225: Vol. 1, Quire Numbers 1-50 (1856) pages 101 – 124] he made Andrew Jnr. one of the executors and trustees of his Estate, and a manager of the business on a salary of up to £2500. He also left him the, then, very substantial legacy of £20,000.
There are two extant version of the will. Firstly the Canterbury Quire version that is close to impossible to read. The second version is the manuscript from Hopgood’s office which is very nearly written and quite legible – we have imaged this and turned it into a PDF. You can read a PDF of the will here and coming soon will be a text version].
Andrew was involved in developing the portfolio of existing London projects for a further decade after Thomas’s death. For example, he finished Warwick Square with No 61 becoming his London residence, and his cousin Lucy (Thomas Cubitt’s daughter) lived at No 49 until her death in 1898.
The language used in Thomas Cubitts [page 23 reproduced in part below] is curious. It is conditional as if it was possible that Andrew might take up the challenge or not. Thomas sounds weary of the risks of the whole building business and is setting the course for Andrew more as a manager of the massive estate that has been built up once he has tidied and simplified the operation to provide ongoing support to Cubitt Estates element – although that is not stated explicitly.
When the 1861 census was taken, Andrew and his family were at Eastbourne, Andrew being listed as Proprietor of House and Grounds.
Andrew took the oath to become a Justice of the Peace in 1864 Oaths of Justices of the Peace [TNA C 202/254/1]. And it is in 1864 that the Thomas Cubitt & Co letter books run finishes with [LMA/4608/01/01/006]. Had the business of Thomas Cubitt & Co been effectively completed or had Andrew just moved on and left Thomas Waller to carry things forwards?
In 1867 Andrew was still active, with Cubitt business singing off alterations to The Morpeth Arms, Ponsonby Street, Pimlico. The writing is not particularly distinct but it looks like he is signing it ‘myself & continuation of T Cubitt’.
In the 1871 census he was listed a magistrate but of no occupation; Andrew was visiting Thomas Cubitt’s widow Mary Anne at Denbies with his wife and two of his children, one of them his twin son Charles Edward. In the same census the other twin Thomas George (eventually Lieutenant Colonel of the 13th Hussars) was staying at Fallapit House in Devon with his cousin William Cubitt, another military man. When Charles Edward married Eliza Jane Jackson in 1875, his father Andrew Cuthell was described as an Architect on the marriage certificate.
Mary Sybil Cuthell was married on 22nd June 1871. The following announcement was in the Western Times – Saturday 24 June 1871:-
“Kinglake—Cuthell.—June 22, at St. Gabriel’s, Warwick Sq London, Robert Alexander Kinglake, barrister-at-law, son of the late Mr. Serjeant Kinglake, M.P., to Mary Sybil, only daughter of Andrew Cuthell, Esq., Warwick Square, Pimlico.”
Robert Alexander Kinglake, was a considerable oarsman and president of CUBC as well as winning both the Goblets and Stewards at Henley Royal Regatta. He went on to become the Recorder of Penzance in 1883 and then Bournemouth from 1889 and he died in June 1915.
Andrew Cuthell died at Shrub Hill, Dorking in 1878 (though officially residing at 61 Warwick Square, Pimlico). George Cubitt was one of his executors. Andrew’s wife Mary Anne Cuthell died in Eastbourne twenty years later, in 1898.
Current work
MJP/QC/076 – ANDREW CUTHELL WRITES TO MR FRANCIS, DEPUTY CLERK OF THE PEACE, REGARDING HIS QUALIFICATION AS A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
ACC/0765/006 – ASSIGNMENT OF LEASE FOR 76 YEARS
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7933523
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7884174
At Westminster Archives
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/b6555781-8995-4fa8-ac41-93ae9b2d6df4
Cuthell of Warwick Square, Pimlico, Executors and Trustees of Thomas Cubitt, late of Denbies and of Lyall Street, Belgrave Square, builder, deceased, to…Lease for sixty-five years by Mary Anne Cubitt of Denbies, near Dorking, co Surrey, widow, George Cubitt of [the same place], Esq, MP and Andrew
CATALOGUE OF THE ARCHIVES OF THE PARISH OF ST GEORGE HANOVER SQUARE.St George Hanover Square Parish Records.Civil Records.Parish Property Records.
Held by: City of Westminster Archives Centre Date: 28 November 1864 Reference: C818g/1
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7922007
Cause number: 1875 C21A.
Short title: Cubitt v Stocken.
Documents: Writ of summons.
Plaintiffs: Mary Anne Cubitt widow, George Cubitt and Andrew Cuthell.
Defendants: James Stocken.