Charles Chubb (1779 – 1846) was an English lock and safe manufacturer. Grave of Charles Chubb in Highgate Cemetery

Life

Born in

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late medieva ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, he trained as a blacksmith who started a hardware business at Winchester then moved to

Portsea, Portsmouth Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. Portsea Island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all th ...

. Here he improved on the "detector" lock, originally patented in 1818 by his brother,

Jeremiah Chubb A Chubb detector lock is a lever tumbler lock with an integral security feature, a re-locking device, which frustrates unauthorised access attempts and indicates to the lock's owner that it has been interfered with. When someone tries to pick th ...

. He soon moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and then to

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, where he employed 200 workers. In 1835, he patented a process intended to render safes burglar-proof and fireproof, and subsequently established a large safe-factory in London. He died on 16 May 1846, and was succeeded in the business by his son, John Chubb (1816–1872), who patented various improvements in the products of the firm and largely increased its output. The factories were combined under one roof in a model plant and the business grew to enormous proportions, now

Chubb Locks Chubb Locks is a former brand name (expired 2010) of the Mul-T-Lock subsidiary of the Assa Abloy Group, which manufactures locking systems for residential, secure confinement and commercial applications. History Chubb was started as a ship's ...

. Charles Chubb was buried on the 22 May 1846 in the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. His plot (no.1847) is in the dissenters section, immediately behind the family grave of the missionary Elijah Hoole.

References

;Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chubb, Charles English businesspeople Locksmiths 1779 births 1846 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People from Fordingbridge