Sydney Simmons

Sydney Simmons (10 September 1840 – 29 April 1924) was an English entrepreneur and philanthropist in Okehampton, Devon, and Friern Barnet, Middlesex (now London). Born in Devon, he was first apprenticed to a drapery company before travelling to London in 1862 where he became the North American representative of a carpet company. He acquired the rights to a new carpet cleaning process, the exploitation of which in Britain made him wealthy. He lived in Friern Barnet and funded a number of philanthropic projects there and in his native Okehampton where he was buried.

Early life and family Sydney Simmons was born in Okehampton, Devon, on 10 September 1840, the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Simmons. His father ran a printing business which the family continued after he died in 1851.

Career

In 1862, Simmons travelled to London to work for a firm that made carpets. There he also joined the Queen's Westminsters volunteers and qualified as a marksman.

He was a justice of the peace.

In 1909, Simmons provided £7,500 towards the costs of £7,796 to allow Friern Barnet Urban District Council to buy the Friary Estate in Friern Barnet, Middlesex, now Friary Park, on condition that it remain a public park in perpetuity. He refused to pay the legal fees for the purchase. It bears a dedication dated 7 May 1910 to the memory of Edward VII who died on 6 May 1910. The statue originally had Victoria holding a dove but at some time that was changed to a spear.

Simmons proposed the idea of the Friary Park Bowling Club in 1911 and in 1922 paid for a bowling green in Okehampton. A keen golfer, he gave the land for Okehampton Golf Course (opened 1913) and in 1921 donated £500 for the laying-out of the recreation grounds at Kempley Meadows in Okehampton, including a bowling green, on condition that the work was done by the unemployed of the town. He received an obituary in The Western Morning News and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints in Okehampton. Probate was granted to his wife Annie, James Piper gentleman, Brendon Ball Newcombe retired army major, and Wallace Rice Harvey company secretary, in the amount of £155,015 . which was built in the early 1920s.