CHAPTER XVII - Cubitt Town
The south-eastern part of the Isle of Dogs, known as
Cubitt Town, was not developed until the mid-nineteenth
century. It takes its name from William Cubitt, its
developer, who embanked the riverfront and laid out the
principal streets during the 1840s and 1850s. William
was born in 1791, the second son of Jonathan Cubitt, a
carpenter at Buxton near Aylsham in Norfolk. The family
moved to London shortly after William's birth. Following
a period of service in the Navy, by 1814 William had
joined his elder brother Thomas's building firm, which
from 1816 was based at extensive premises in Gray's Inn
Road. Lewis, the youngest surviving brother, also joined
the partnership. In 1827 their association was dissolved;
Thomas went into business independently, building on a
large scale, notably in Pimlico and Belgravia. William
and Lewis continued to manage the firm, which expanded
considerably in the 1830s, becoming one of the largest
building concerns in early Victorian London. William
retired from the business in 1854. He sat as MP for
Andover from 1847 until 1861 and again from 1862 until
his death in 1863. He was also an Alderman of the City
of London and was Lord Mayor in 1860–2. (ref. 1)
By four agreements made between 1842 and 1853,
Cubitt was responsible for the development of much of
the district. All but one of the agreements were with the
trustees of Margaret Lauretta, Countess of Glengall,
daughter and co-heir of William Mellish, who had
inherited her father's estate on the Isle of Dogs on his
death in 1834. Her trustees, acting with the advice of
their agent, John Hooper, first came to an arrangement
with Cubitt in 1842, but it is not clear which party made
the initial approach. The trustees were aware that the
value of the land on the Isle of Dogs was diminishing
and their agent was coming under pressure to lower the
rents. The land was low lying and its draining and
embanking, which were badly needed, could not be
effected without a large input of capital. The area had
no road access and it was thought at that time that the
nature of the ground made it unlikely that a railway
could ever be built across it. Moreover, the foreshore was
being steadily eroded by the wash caused by steamships,
traffic which was obviously going to increase. Without
the embankment of the riverside and the drainage of the
inland areas the value of the estate could not be increased
and was likely to diminish. It was anticipated that Cubitt's
investment in the strip of land around the riverfront
would benefit the adjoining parts of the Mellish estate
by opening them up for development, particularly for
house building. (ref. 2) (fn. a)
The first articles of agreement between the trustees
and Cubitt were concluded in July 1842 and related to a
belt of land, generally between 475ft and 650ft wide,
with an inland boundary running roughly parallel to the
foreshore. (ref. 4) Much of the land lay on the outer side of the
Marsh Wall, which was 463ft from the edge of Cubitt's
holding at the furthest point, but only 48ft from it at the
nearest. The boundary ran for 5,004ft from Ferry Street
to a point close to the Folly Inlet. The land was demised
for 99 years at an annual rent which rose in 12 stages;
from £325 in the first year, increasing by £100 annually
for the next four years, and rising more unevenly to
£1,200 in 1853, with a final increase to £2,100 in 1862.
Cubitt contracted to expend at least £10,000 in the first
five years in the 'substantial improvement' of the property.
The improvement was specified as embanking, wharfing,
road making, draining and fencing, as well as building
warehouses, factories and houses. A carriage road, at
least 60ft wide, was to be constructed along the inland
boundary, the trustees and Cubitt sharing the cost, and
Cubitt also undertook to make provision for public access
to the river at three points along the frontage. The
trustees were to issue the leases to the tenants until the
aggregate rents reached the level of Cubitt's final annual
rent of £2,100; thereafter Cubitt was to be the lessor.
The second agreement, concluded in 1847, (ref. 5) added a
further 14½ acres. Cubitt was to continue the carriage
road along the new boundary, which consisted of two
sections that straightened out the former line on the west
side of the earlier take, adding a narrow strip of ground
there, and a third section running north-westwards to
East Ferry Road. This boundary is marked by the line
of Manchester Road northwards from its junction with
Glenaffric Avenue as far as Glengall Grove and then
along that street to East Ferry Road. The irregular
northern boundary, abutting upon the land of William
Stratton, was modified by an exchange of land agreed in
1862. (ref. 6) Cubitt contracted to erect buildings 'when and as
it shall appear to him to be judicious to do so'. The term
was 95 years, terminating at the same date as that agreed
in 1842, and the annual rent was £115.
Figure 190:
Cubitt Town, c1900. Broken line indicates the boundary of Cubitt & Company's land. a: Southern Cubitt Town; b: Northern Cubitt Town
Cubitt's third agreement with the Countess's trustees
was made in 1853 (ref. 7) and added an area of approximately
20 acres on the west side of Manchester Road. Stebondale
Street was subsequently laid out close to the line of the
new boundary. (ref. 8) The term was for 99 years from March
1852 and the initial rent was £140 per annum, rising to
£177 after seven years, to £210 after a further seven
years and to £250 from 1873. Cubitt was committed to
spend £5,000 upon improvements within the first five
years, specifically by raising the level of the ground,
draining, fencing, making roads and erecting buildings.
Cubitt took no further land on the Glengall estate,
but, by an agreement made with William Stratton in
1850, he added a little over eight acres to the north of
his existing holding. (ref. 9) This was granted for a 99-year term
at £64 2s 6d per annum. It was bounded on the east by
the Marsh Wall and on the west by a section of Manchester Road - between its junctions with Samuda Street
and East Ferry Road - that was laid out by Cubitt as a
condition of the agreement.
The area bounded by Manchester Road, East Ferry
Road and the rear of the premises in Glengall Grove and
Strattondale Street was not taken by Cubitt, although it
was a part of the district which, by the early 1850s, had
become known as Cubitt Town.
Cubitt Town contained two principal elements; the
industrial sites and the housing. There was little demand
in the Isle of Dogs for industrial land that did not abut
upon the river or the docks, and so the two components
were generally distinct, with most of the industry concentrated at the wharves and along East Ferry Road, and
the housing in the remainder of the district (fig. 190).