George Cubitt

Name

George Cubitt

CLAIM TO FAME

A generous benefactor, he donated the eight-acre plot on which the original buildings of Cranleigh School stood and later land including the North Field and much of the South Field (originally known as Cubitt’s Field), and in 1879 funded the construction of the Sanatorium, which in 1961 was converted into the house that now bears his name.

PROFILE

George Cubitt, the MP for West Surrey from 1860 to 1885, approached John Sapte in the summer of 1862 with a view to opening a public school in Surrey. Cubitt threw his weight behind the scheme and remained closely involved with Cranleigh until his death in 1916.

A generous benefactor, he donated the eight-acre plot on which the original buildings stood and later land including the North Field and much of the South Field (originally known as Cubitt’s Field), and in 1879 funded the construction of the Sanatorium, which in 1961 was converted into the house that now bears his name. He was also one of the founders of St Catherine’s, Bramley, where his wife donated their sanatorium. He became Baron Ashcombe of Dorking in 1892 and died in 1917 aged 88.