Stanley Tubbs

Sir Stanley William Tubbs, 1st Baronet (22 March 1871 – 11 December 1941) was an industrialist, British Conservative Party politician, and benefactor. He was educated at Highgate School, and as a young man in the 1890s joined his father Henry Tubbs in business at Tubbs Lewis & Co., a London elastic manufacturer which had expanded by acquiring several textile mills along the Little Avon River in Gloucestershire since 1870.[1]

By 1900, he had taken over general management. He purchased Ellerncroft - a house in Wotton-under-Edge with a view over the river valley - from which he could establish each morning that work was underway by seeing smoke rising from the chimneys of the mills.[1] Following his father's death in 1917, he became Governing Director of the company.[1] He had a reputation as a strict employer, but provided regular social events for his workforce, such as an annual feast and concert known locally as a "Tubbs do".[1]

Stanley Tubbs sat as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud between November 1922 and December 1923,[2] where he is recorded as speaking six times[3] in Hansard. Despite his victory in the 1922 election, he lost his seat to the Liberal candidate the following year when Stanley Baldwin unsuccessfully attempted to gain a popular mandate after taking over as prime minister. He was created a Baronet, of Wotton-under-Edge in the County of Gloucester, in 1929.[4] His coat of arms was inscribed Per deum et industriam obtinui (roughly translated from Latin, "What I have is from God and hard work").[1] He also served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1931.[5] He sold the business interests in London around this time, concentrating on his Gloucestershire operations.[1]

Tubbs died in December 1941, aged 70, and the baronetcy became extinct. At this time, over 90% of company contracts for elasticated fabric were with the military and government to supply the Second World War.[1] New Mill, still visible today from his former home, was renamed New Mills[1] when it became the global headquarters of Renishaw plc.