William Cubitt

Cubitt was born in Dilham, Norfolk, the son of Joseph Cubitt of Bacton Wood, a miller, and Hannah Lubbock. He attended the village school. His father moved to Southrepps, and William at an early age was employed in the mill, but in 1800 was apprenticed to James Lyon, a cabinet-maker at Stalham, from whom he parted after four years. At Bacton Wood Mills he again worked with his father in 1804, and also constructed a machine for splitting hides. He then joined an agricultural machine maker named Cook, at Swanton, where they constructed horse threshing machines and other implements. ==Engineer and inventor==

Cubitt became known for the accuracy and finish of his patterns for the iron castings of machines. Self-regulating windmill sails were invented and patented by him in 1807, at which period he settled at Horning, Norfolk, in business as a millwright. He in 1812 sought and obtained an engagement in the works of Messrs. Ransome of Ipswich, where he soon became the chief engineer. For nine years he held this situation, and then became a partner in the firm, a position which he held until he moved to London in 1826. In 1841 he designed a new wharf on the Regent's Canal at Camden in London to allow transhipment of goods between the canal, road and railway. The Bute docks at Cardiff, the Middlesbrough docks and the coal drops on the Tees, and the Black Sluice drainage were undertakings which he successfully accomplished. ==Railway man==

After the introduction of railways Cubitt's evidence was sought in parliamentary contests. As engineer-in-chief he constructed the South Eastern Railway: he adopted the scheme of employing a monster charge of 18,000 lb. of gunpowder for blowing down the face of Round Down Cliff, between Folkestone and Dover (26 January 1843), and then constructing the line of railway along the beach, with a tunnel beneath the Shakespeare Cliff. On the Croydon Railway the atmospheric system was tried by him. ==Later life==

Cubitt retired from business in 1858, and died at his residence on Clapham Common, Surrey, on 13 October 1861, and was buried in Norwood cemetery on 18 October. ==Family==

Cubitt was born at Dilham, Norfolk, on 9 October 1785. His father was Joseph Cubitt (1760–1829), a miller, and his mother was Hannah Lubock (1765–1831). He had two brothers, Benjamin and Joseph. First marriage Cubitt married Abigail Sparkhall (1785–1813) on 26 June 1809. The couple had one son, Joseph, and two daughters. Joseph Cubitt (1811–1872) became a civil engineer. ==Structures==

Extant structures by Cubitt include: • Many windmills in East Anglia and Lincolnshire • Iron bridges: Brent Eleigh and Clare, and the Stoke Bridge at Ipswich (Suffolk); Witham (Essex). • Port Offices, Lowestoft • Haddiscoe Cut • Oxford Canal at Rugby and at Newbold tunnel • Shropshire Union Canal at Shelmore Embankment • Diglis Lock on the River Severn at Worcester • Foord Viaduct (1844), Folkestone • Folkestone Warren and Martello, Abbot's Cliff, Shakespeare and Martello tunnels • Welwyn Viaduct • Nene Bridge, Peterborough • Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green Cubitt also constructed Penton Lodge, which is located in Penton Mewsey. ==See also==