of Wolverhampton
as C. Chubb and Son of Liverpool (1848)
as Chubb and Son of 57 St Paul's Church Yard, London. (1851) [1]
as Chubb and Sons Lock and Safe Company of 128 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC. (1914)
as Chubb and Sons Lock and Safe Company of 40-42 Oxford Street, London, W1. Telephone: Museum 5822. Cables: "Chubb, London". (1947)
Manufactory: 27 Cow-cross Street, near Smithfield (1851)[2].
1779 Charles Chubb was born in Fordingham, Hampshire.
1793 Jeremiah Chubb, Charles's brother, was born.
1804 Chubbs started as a ship's ironmonger, established by Charles Chubb in Winchester, and then moved to Portsmouth.
1818 Chubb moved the company into the locksmith business in Wolverhampton. The company worked out of a number of premises in Wolverhampton including the purpose built factory on Railway Street now still known as the Chubb Building. His brother Jeremiah then joined the company and they sold Jeremiah's patented detector lock, a lock that indicated if an attempt had been made to pick it.
1823 The company was awarded a special licence by George IV and later became the sole supplier of locks to the General Post Office and a supplier to His Majesty's Prison Service.
1824 Charles patented a further improvement on the lock.
1828 Dissolution of the partnership between Charles Chubb and James Hook, as Locksmiths, at 57, St. Paul's Church-Yard, in the City of London, and at Portsea, in the County of Southampton, under the firm of Charles Chubb and Co.; the business was continued by Chubb[3]. The Portsea ironmongery business seems to have been taken on by John Durrant and Thomas Ellis Owen[4]
1830 Opened a factory in Wolverhampton[5]
1835 Patent for a burglar-resisting safe.
1837 Company opened a factory to make safes in Glengall Road, Old Kent Road, London.
1840s By this time Chubb had become a household name.
1841 John Chubb, Charles's son, became a partner in the business
1846 Charles died
1851 They designed a special secure display case for the Koh-i-Noor diamond for its appearance at the Great Exhibition.
1855 Exhibited locks and fire-proof safes at the 1855 Paris Exhibition
1870s Chubb set up a subsidiary in the US when crime rates peaked. During this period the Time Lock (a clockwork or electronically operated time mechanism that is fitted to a safe or vault door with no outside connections) was developed, the basis upon which new locking systems were developed.
1872 After the death of John, his 3 sons John Charles Chubb, George Hayter Chubb and Henry W. Chubb were managing directors.
1876 Installed a 15 hp horizontal engine from Thomas Gadd. [6]
1882 Chubb and Sons Lock and Safe Co was registered on 14 December, to acquire the business of Chubb and Son. [7]
1892 Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibition. Steel strong-room with electrical alarm. [8]
1894 Exhibited at Antwerp Exhibition. Awarded Silver Medal for metallurgy and Diploma of Honour for Small Machinery. [9] [10]
1900 Pamphlet describing a gunnery test of a steel safe door made by them. [11]
1909 New works at Wolverhampton described in The Engineer 1909/10/15
1914 Manufacturers of locks, safes, strong rooms etc. [12]
1923 Manufactured a 'massive circular steel treasury door, weighing 20 tons, the first of its kind to be manufactured in Great Britain and shown throughout England.[13]
After World War II Chubb expanded its operations from a single company manufacturing specialised security products with just two overseas subsidiaries, into a broad based group of companies covering many aspects of security work in the UK and 17 countries Worldwide.
1947 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of Tested and Certified Fire Protection for Office Systems. Safe Cabinets and Safe Files. Cash and Deed Boxes, Wall Safes, Safes, Coffers and Strong Room Doors for protection against burglars. [14]
1951 Private company formed.
1958 Name changed.
1961 Safe manufacturers and security engineers. [15]
1965 Acquired Josiah Parkes and Sons, lock makers.
1967 Acquired Pyrene Co
1980s Since this time, the Chubb logo and trademark has consisted of a C formed to look like a lock.
1984 Racal Electronics Group purchased Chubb
1992 Chubb de-merged from Racal to form Chubb Security
1997 Company was sold to Williams
2000 The company was de-merged from Williams to become Chubb plc[16].
2003 The company was acquired by the United Technologies Corporation
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1851 advert.
- ↑ The Times, 10 June 1851
- ↑ London Gazette 28 Mar 1828
- ↑ London Gazette 2 July 1830
- ↑ Dictionary of National Biography
- ↑ The Engineer of 4th August 1876 p77
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ 1892 The Practical Engineer
- ↑ The Engineer of 25th May 1894 p430
- ↑ The Engineer of 2nd November 1894 p387
- ↑ The Engineer of 16th November 1900 p507
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Engineer 1923/06/01
- ↑ 1947 British Industries Fair p61
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times December 21, 2000