Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

Lawrence Wensley Chubb (21 December 1873 – 18 February 1948) was an Anglo-Australian professional Secretary whose work was on environmentalist causes.

Early life

Chubb was born at

Lauraville Lauraville is a neighborhood in northeast Baltimore, Maryland. The neighborhood is bounded on the east by Harford Road, on the north by Echodale Avenue, on the south by Argonne Drive and Herring Run Park, and on the west side by Morgan Park and ...

in the

Colony of Victoria In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, the son of Lawrence Wensley Chubb and Esther Lydle Collins. He migrated to England and in 1891 was working as an auctioneer’s clerk and living with an uncle in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

who was an

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as w ...

Career

In 1895, through the influence of Sir Robert Hunter, Chubb became the first Secretary of the newly formed

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and was later called "the first man to make what we call the environment his professional career". A knighthood for Chubb was announced in the

1930 New Year Honours The 1930 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 31 December 1929. The recipients of honour ...

, with the citation noting that he had been Secretary of the Commons and Footpaths Preservation Society for thirty-five years and of the

National Playing Fields Association Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...

since 1928. The knighthood was conferred by

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 8 March 1930. In the late 1930s, Chubb became a Patron of the newly-formed

Right Book Club The Right Book Club was an English book club founded in 1937 by Christina and William Foyle to counter the influential Left Book Club, established in 1936 by Victor Gollancz. Origins and character In May 1936 the Left Book Club had been establ ...

, established to act as a counterbalance to the influential

Left Book Club The Left Book Club was a publishing group that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain from 1936 to 1948. Pioneered by Victor Gollancz, it offered a monthly book choice, for sale to members only, as well as a newsletter that acqui ...

Personal life

In 1905, at Southwark, Chubb married Gertrude Elizabeth Anthony. With his wife he had a son, also called Lawrence Wensley Chubb, who became a chemical engineer, and a daughter, Gertrude."CHUBB sir Lawrence Wensley knight of 35 Lichfield Court Sheen-road Richmond Surrey died 18 February 1948" in ''Wills and Administrations (England and Wales) 1948'' (1949)
p. 172
/ref> In October 1939, Chubb and his wife were living at Windrush,

Midford Midford is a village approximately south-south-east of Bath, Somerset, England. Although relatively small, it extends over 2 counties (Wiltshire and Somerset), is part of two unitary authorities (Wiltshire and Bath and North East Somerset) and i ...

, near

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

National Registration Act 1939 The National Registration Act 1939 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The initial National Registration Bill was introduced to Parliament as an emergency measure at the start of the Second World War. The Act provided for the estab ...

Midford
ancestry.co.uk, accessed 11 August 2021 Chubb died in February 1948 at

Richmond, Surrey Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

, leaving an estate valued at £9,144.

Publications

*''The Maintenance of Public Ways'' (Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society, 1946)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chubb, Lawrence Wensley 1873 births 1948 deaths Colony of Victoria people Knights Bachelor People from Southwark Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom