CUBIT1', THOMAS, was born in 1788, and was the son of a labouring man at Buxton, a village in Norfolk. Thrown early ou his own resources, and denied the advantages of what is called a liberal education, he nevertheless rose into eminence by skill and industry combined with integrity, and amassed a largo fortune by the improve ments which he effected in the architecture and sanatory arrangement of London. His father died while he was still a youth. The trade to which he was brought up was that of a carpenter. He worked nt the bench for some time, and then went nut to India in the capacity of ship's carpenter. Having accumulated some small amount of money during his voyage out and home again, ho became a master carpent•r and then a builder in ()my 's-inn-road. He was here engaged to build the Metropolitan Institution in Finsbury-circus. About 1823 ho contracted for the improvement of the property of the late Duke of Bedford in the neighbourhood of Russell and Tavistock squares, and a year or two later entered into a similar engagement with the late Marquis of Westminster and Mr. Lowndee for erecting mansions on their property between Knightsbridge and Westminster. The skill with which he laid out and built what is now frequently called Belgravia,' recommended him to the late Mr. Kemp, who employed him to build Kemp Town at Brighton. He subsequently laid out and built Clapham Park, and Southern Belgravia, including Warwick and Eceleeton squares at Pimlico. Mr. Cubitt was one of the first persons
to propose a comprehensive scheme of draining London by carrying the sewerage to a point in the river Thames considerably below the city. He was also the author of other sanitary plans for the prevention of nuisances from smoke, &c., and the appropriation of open spaces in the suburbs of London as parks for the people. When her Majesty and Prince Albert determined on rebuilding Osborne in the Isle of Wight, the work was entrusted to Mr. Cubitt. For several years Mr. Thomas Cubitt held the honorary post of examiner of candidates for district snrvcyorehips, and at one time was president of the Builders' Society. Himself originally a working man, he felt and laboured for the working classes. Thus he erected a workman's library and school room near his establishment at Thames Bank, and devised a plan for supplying their families witlithe comforts of life from his own premises. On one occasion, when his large works at Thames Bank were burnt down, thinking nothing of his own loss, he commenced at once a subscription for replacing the tools of his workmen. He died rather suddenly at Denbies, Surrey, December 26, 1855, having just finished his mansion there, and completed his contracts in Belgravia. His brother, Mr. Alderman William Cubitt, formerly his partner in Gray's inn-road, was sheriff of London in 1847, and has represented Andover in parliament since that date.