​CUBITT, SIR WILLIAM, an English engineer; born in Dilham, Norfolk, in 1785, was a miller, cabinet-maker, and millwright until 1812, when he became a chief-engineer. In 1823 he joined the Institution of Civil Engineers. The improvement of the Severn and of Boulogne port, the Bute docks at Cardiff, and the water-works for Berlin are among his works. He also invented the treadmill, and constructed the South-Eastern railway; and for his services in connection with the erection of the Great Exhibition buildings he was knighted in 1851. He died Oct. 13, 1861.