1. William Cubitt invented a type of windmill sail and the prison treadwheel, and was employed as chief engineer, at Ransomes of Ipswich, before moving to London.
16 Facts About William Cubitt
1. 2.
William Cubitt worked on canals, docks, and railways, including the South Eastern Railway and the Great Northern Railway.
3.
William Cubitt was the chief engineer of Crystal Palace erected at Hyde Park in 1851.
4.
William Cubitt was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers between 1850 and 1851.
5.
William Cubitt's 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.
6.
William Cubitt then joined an agricultural machine maker named Cook, at Swanton, where they constructed horse threshing machines and other implements.
7.
William Cubitt became known for the accuracy and finish of his patterns for the iron castings of machines.
8.
Already William Cubitt was concerned with the employment of criminals; and for the purpose of using their labour he invented the treadmill, with the object, for example, of grinding corn, and not at first contemplating the use of the machine as a means of punishment.
9.
From 1814 William Cubitt had been acting as a civil engineer, and after his move to London he was fully engaged in important works.
10.
William Cubitt was extensively employed in canal engineering, and the Oxford canal and the Liverpool Junction canal are among his works under this head.
11.
William Cubitt joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as a member in 1823, became a member of council in 1831, vice-president in 1836, and held the post of president in 1850 and 1851.
12.
William Cubitt became a Fellow of the Royal Society on 1 April 1830, and was a fellow of the Royal Irish Academy, and a member of other learned societies.
13.
William 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.
14.
William Cubitt's father was Joseph Cubitt, a miller, and his mother was Hannah Lubock.
15.
William Cubitt married Elizabeth Jane Tiley on 24 January 1821.
16.
William Cubitt constructed Penton Lodge, which is located in Penton Mewsey.