James Cubitt was born in Ilford, Essex, England on 20 March 1836 and was articled to J. Charles Gilbert in Nottingham from 1851 to 1856. He also attended Nottingham School of Art. He then worked as an assistant to Edmund Wallace Elmslie in Malvern in 1856-57, Robert Jewell Withers (1823?-1894) and William Willmen Pocock (1813-1899).
Cubitt commenced independent practice as an architect in London, England in 1862.
He was in partnership with George Frederick Collinson (1867-1937) as Cubitt & Collinson from 1891 to 1899 and with Herbert J. Manchip from c.1907 to 1910.
Cubitt specialised in church architecture and designed a number of non-conformist chapels. He was the author of Church Design for Congregations (1870) and Popular Handbook of Nonconformist Church Building (1892). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1891. He died in Loughton, Essex in July 1912
For details of 78 buildings designed by James Cubitt see Historic England [link below]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001