John Chubb

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. Biography of the Chubb family Jonathan Chubb (1715-1805) was the son of James Chubb (born 1691?) and his wife Elinor Venicot. He was related to the family of Thomas Chubb The Deist, and through his mother to the mother of the actress and author Mary Robinson (poet). Jonathan Chubb was a merchant, importing wine, timber, coopers' supplies such as barrel staves and also builders' supplies such as glass and tiles. 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. They had three children, John, Kitty, (b 1748), who married the Rev David Webber, and Sarah, (b 1751), who married Captain Thomas Morris. 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.