Mr Thomas William Cubbon
Title: Mr
Epithet: Artist (1861-1943)
Record type: Biographies
Biography: Thomas William Cubbon was the son of Thomas Cubbon, a Douglas flour and provision merchant and leading Island entrepreneur. After finishing his education at King William’s College, Cubbon was articled to the Liverpool architect, C. O. Ellison.
In the 1881 census the Cubbon family were living at The Priory, one of the large detached villas on Peel Road, Douglas. Thomas Cubbon meanwhile was living and working in Birkenhead as an architectural draughtsman. In 1885 he went into partnership with Alexander Bleakley, a fellow pupil with Ellison, to form the Birkenhead and Douglas architectural firm of Bleakley & Cubbon. Within only a few years (1886-8) their commission for the new Noble’s Hospital was complete. The partnership was dissolved in 1888. Thomas Cubbon continued to live in Birkenhead with his younger brother John, who worked with him as an architect pupil.
Cubbon developed an extensive private practice over the following decades, providing designs for several schools, banks, public buildings and churches, both on the Island and in Cheshire and Lancashire. These included Park Road, Kewaigue and Castletown Board Schools, Port St Mary Wesleyan Church and the Douglas Abattoir.
Art:
Before the days of CAD (computer aided design), a vital and important skill for any architect was the ability to reproduce their designs either as pen and ink drawings or watercolours to indicate what the finished building would look like. Cubbon produced designs which were exhibited in 1888 for the New Chester Road Abattoirs, the Hanover Street School, Douglas and a church and school in Birkenhead.
Occupation / profession: Artist
Nationality: Manx
Gender: Male
Date of birth: 1861
Place of birth: Douglas, Isle of Man
Date of death: 1943
Place of death: Almere Ferry, Rossett, Wales
Name Variant: Cubbon, Thomas W.