William Cubitt

Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of windmill sail and the prison treadwheel, and was employed as chief engineer, at Ransomes of Ipswich, before moving to London. He worked on canals, docks, and railways, including the South Eastern Railway and the Great Northern Railway. He was the chief engineer of Crystal Palace erected at Hyde Park in 1851.

He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers between 1850 and 1851.

Early life 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.

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.

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.