Chubb, Charles

SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors

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b. 1779 Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England

d. 16 May 1845 Islington, London, England.

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English locksmith.

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Both Charles Chubb and his younger brother Jeremiah served as apprentices to a blacksmith. The brothers were in business together in Daniel Street, Portsea, Hampshire, from 1804 until 1820, when Charles moved to London to establish the firm of Chubb \& Son. In 1818, Jeremiah Chubb had patented a detector lock; this invention proved to be the foundation of the later success of the firm of Chubb \& Son. Charles Chubb made improvements on this lock, for which he took out patents in 1824, 1828 and 1833. He also took out several patents for fireproof and burglarproof safes.

In the Portsea factory, at first there were only two or three employees engaged in lockmaking, but when Charles Chubb moved to London another twelve were taken on and thus things remained until 1830, when a factory was opened in Wolverhampton with up to two hundred employees. The manufacture of fireproof and burglarproof safes was carried out at a separate factory in London, which had up to one hundred and fifty employees. The two factories supplied nearly 1,500,000 patent locks and about 30,000 safes and strongrooms, costing between £8 and £5,000, the latter being the largest-ever safe supplied to a bank at that time.

See also: Chubb, John

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