John Chubb (artist)

John Chubb (1746-1818) was an amateur artist from Bridgwater in the English county of Somerset. He was born in 1746. His parents were Jonathan Chubb (1715-1805), a Bridgwater timber and wine merchant, and his wife Mary Morley, (1715-1787). John did not become a professional artist, but kept his work private. He helped run the family business, and took an active part in town politics in the Whig cause, and was Mayor of Bridgwater in 1788. He was active in the local campaign to abolish the Slave Trade.

The origins of Jonathan Chubb (1715-1805) are obscure, but he was related to the family of Thomas Chubb The Deist, and to the mother of the author Mary Robinson (poet). He married Mary Morley (1715-1787) of North Petherton, and she had links with a number of the local gentry, such as the Luttrells of Dunster. Jonathan Chubb was a merchant, importing wine, timber, coopers' supplies such as barrel staves and also builders' supplies such as glass and tiles.

John Chubb was born in Bridgwater 9 May 1746. A precocious child, John displayed a talent for art but did not take it up professionally. By 1778 he was a burgess and so a councillor, and was elected Mayor of Bridgwater in 1788. He was a Radical and supported the Whig cause, and was active in promoting Bridgwater's anti-slavery petition to Parliament in 1785. He was one of the promoters of Bridgwater Infirmary, and served as treasurer to the time of his death in 1818.

He married Mary Wetherell (1765-1812), from Wells, and they had three children, Morley (1788-1855), Lucy (1794-1867) and Charles James (1797-1872). John Chubb died 2 February 1818, after an illness lasting two years.

Morley Chubb succeeded to the family business. He married Frances Alford, (1788-1850) and they had thirteen children, all born in Bridgwater, — eight boys and five girls. A son was born later in London. Morley Chubb, Charles James Chubb and John Bowen entered into a partnership to own a wine merchants business under the name of M. Chubb & Co in Bridgwater. This was dissolved in June 1830 in favour of John Bowen By 1832 the family had moved to London, and were living in Burton Street, Islington. The 1841 census records him as a 'Professor of Music', and the 1851 the secretary of a commercial company—The Crosse Patent Co. Very little is known of his life in London, but after his death, in 1858 was published his translation into English of the words of Louis Spohr's " God, Thou art great ": opus 98, a sacred cantata for four voices, 1836.

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