Harry Withers Chubb
Harry Withers Chubb (1857-1905) of Chubb and Sons
1872 After the death of John Chubb, his 3 sons were managing directors of Chubb and Sons
1906 Obituary [1]
HARRY WITHERS CHUBB, whose death on the 2nd December, 1905, resulted from injuries sustained in a fall, was the third son of the late Mr. John Chubb, of Brixton, and grandson of Charles Chubb, inventor and patentee of the Chubb lock.
Born on the 19th November, 1857, the subject of this notice was educated at Dulwich College, and after serving a pupilage to Messrs. James Simpson and Company, he joined the firm of Chubb and Son’s Lock and Safe Company, Limited, of which he became managing director.
For many years he had charge of the South London works of the company, where he introduced many new methods and machines for making locks, safes and bankers’ treasuries. He frequently lectured on subjects connected with the locksmith’s art, in which, apart from business considerations, he was keenly interested. Probably few men possessed a wider and more intimate knowledge than he of all kinds of security work, which, although it does not perhaps appeal to popular interest, is nevertheless, under modern conditions, a subject of great importance and complexity.
During the 2 years previous to his death, Mr. Chubb devoted much time and ingenuity to devising special safe- and vault-doors to resist attack by nitroglycerine. Satisfactory results were obtained after repeated experiments, which showed that the best type of door was that which dispensed with the use of a keyhole, the locks working by magnetic or electrical action.
Mr. Chubb was a great traveller and an excellent rifle shot; and for many years he held a lieutenant’s commission in the 7th Surrey Rifle Volunteers.
In 1879 he married Frances Emory, daughter of the late Reverend Dr. Crooks, of Madison, New Jersey.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 7th December, 1886.