Chubb and Sons Lock and Safe Company Ltd., Wednesfield Road, Wolverhampton
- Ref No: D-EXP/P/I40/271
- Date: 15 Jul 1965
- Artist: Weaver; Ron
- Additional Information: The Aubin Trophy, built by locksmith Charles Aubin in 1851, was part of an exhibition touring Britain to mark the 150th anniversary of Chubbs. Pountney Street, the Great Exhibition, A. C. Hobbs, and Hobbs Hart are mentioned.
- Admin History: The Chubb lock making business was founded by two brothers, Charles and Jeremiah Chubb, in 1818 in Portsmouth, with the invention of the 'detector' lock by Jeremiah Chubb. It was the first ever lock designed to indicate that a lock picker had been at work, and could only be opened with its own key. In 1835, the company diversified into safe making, and eventually closed their safe works in London to concentrate on safe production in Wolverhampton. In 1838 they moved premises to the site of the old workhouse on the corner of Mill Street (no longer there) and Horseley Fields in 1838. In 1882, Chubbs became a public limited company, changing their name to Chubb & Sons Lock & Safe Company Ltd. Their lease also expired in the same year, which prompted them to move back to London, before moving back to a new purpose-built building, designed by C. H. M. Mileham of London, on the junctions of Fryer Street, Chubb Street and Railway Street in Wolverhampton, in 1898. Production began in 1899, and the premises were extended in 1908. In the same year a new works on Wednesfield Road was built to manufacture safes. All manufacturing eventually moved to this site in 1938. In 1947, moves were made to produce machine made locks as opposed to hand made. In 1956, the company took over lock and safe makers Hobbs Hart & Co. Ltd. Chubb then expanded its operations from a single company manufacturing specialised security products, into a broad based group of companies covering many aspects of security work in the United Kingdom and overseas. In 1965, Josiah Parkes and Sons (Holdings) Ltd became members of the Chubb Group. In 1973, they purchased Dutch company Lips. In 1984, Chubb was taken over by the Racal Electronics Group. It became part of the Racal Group of Companies, but continued under its original name. As a result of the takeover, all commercial production was eventually transferred to the Josiah Parkes sites in Portobello and Union Street, Willenhall. Only Chubb Safe Equipment Company and Chubb High Security remained at Wednesfield. Racal subsequently sold Chubbs to Williams Holdings Plc, in 1997, who instigated a major redevelopment programme. In August, 2000, Chubb and the rest of the lock security group were acquired by Assa Abloy, a Swedish based lock manufacturer.
- Extent: 1 item
- Level: Item
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- For more information contact: Wolverhampton Archives
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