Sydney Simmons (10 September 1840 – 29 April 1924) was an English entrepreneur and philanthropist in

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 7,313, which was slightly more than the 7,104 recorded at the 2011 census. Th ...

, Devon, and

Friern Barnet Friern Barnet () is a suburban area within the London Borough of Barnet, north of Charing Cross. Its centre is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards No ...

, 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

, Devon, on 10 September 1840, the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Simmons.Sydney Simmons - a great benefactor.
Paul Rendell, Okehampton Town Council. Retrieved 16 October 2022. His father ran a printing business which the family continued after he died in 1851. Sydney then went to Devonport in Plymouth where he was apprenticed to a drapery firm for ten years. He married Annie who died in 1936.

Career

Patent Steam Carpet Beating Company advert

In 1862, Simmons travelled to London to work for a firm that made carpets. There he also joined the

Queen's Westminsters The Queen's Westminsters were an infantry regiment of the Territorial Army, part of the British Army. Originally formed from Rifle Volunteer Corps, which were established after a French invasion scare of 1859. The unit became part of the newly ...

volunteers and qualified as a marksman. In 1862, he travelled to North America as a sales representative for the carpet company, spending a decade travelling across the continent. In 1888, he returned to London with the rights to a new process for cleaning carpets. He formed The Patent Steam Carpet Beating Company and The Compressed Air Carpet and Tapestry Cleaning Company and through them became a wealthy man. Simmons bought a house in Friern Park,

North Finchley North Finchley is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Barnet, situated northwest of Charing Cross. North Finchley is centred on Tally Ho Corner, the junction of the roads to East Finchley, Church End, Friern Barnet and Whetstone. ...

, that he named Okehampton. The house was demolished after his death and a development of flats in the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

style built on the site in the 1930s that is known as Okehampton Close.Okehampton Close, N12.
Friern Barnet Photo Archive. Retrieved 17 October 2022. When sold on behalf of the

Foyle Foundation Christina Agnes Lilian Foyle (30 January 1911 – 8 June 1999) was an English bookseller and owner of Foyles bookshop. Early life Miss Foyle (as she liked to be called) was born in London, the daughter of William Foyle, a leading bookseller, ...

in 2018, the development comprised 65 flats and 30 garages over 2.63 acres.Flats 1–65 Okehampton Close, North Finchley, London N12 9TX.
Barnett Ross. Retrieved 17 October 2022. He was a justice of the peace.

Philanthropy

Simmons bought the land for Simmons Park in Okehampton from the local council and paid for the park to be laid out. He then gave it to the local people in perpetuity. 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

, Middlesex, now Friary Park, on condition that it remain a public park in perpetuity. He refused to pay the legal fees for the purchase. In 1911 he bought the ruin of

Okehampton Castle Okehampton Castle is a medieval motte and bailey castle in Devon, England. It was built between 1068 and 1086 by Baldwin FitzGilbert following a revolt in Devon against Norman conquest of England, Norman rule, and formed the centre of the Honou ...

and its medieval deer park and then renovated the remains and site with new paths and seating for visitors. He gave the castle to the people of Okehampton in 1917 and endowed a fund with £1,000 in

consols Consols (originally short for consolidated annuities, but subsequently taken to mean consolidated stock) were government bond, government debt issues in the form of perpetual bonds, redeemable at the option of the government. The first British co ...

to provide for its maintenance. He purchased and paid for the erection in Friary Park in May 1911 of a statue of Queen Victoria as ''Peace'' that was

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

by Historic England in 1983. It bears a dedication dated 7 May 1910 to the memory of Edward VII who died on 6 May 1910. It stands on 200 tons of rock from Devon, shaped in the form of a

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Toronto, Canada ** Toronto Raptors * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor ...

.The History of the Park.
Friends of Friary Park. Retrieved 17 October 2022. The statue originally had Victoria holding a dove but at some time that was changed to a spear. The statue was restored by Barnet Council in 2022 and the dove reinstated.Barnet Council funds restoration of Friary Park’s historic Peace statue.
London Borough of Barnet, 5 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022. 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.

Death and legacy

Simmons died on 29 April 1924 at the age of 83.''1924 Probate Calendar'', p. 275. 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 (). He is remembered in Simmons Way on the Russell Lane housing estate in

Oakleigh Park Oakleigh Park is a loosely defined district in the north of the London Borough of Barnet. It adjoins Whetstone, and is often regarded as part of either that district or of East Barnet, although the East Coast Main Line forms a border with the l ...

, Barnet,Heathfield, John. (1994) ''Around Whetstone & North Finchley''. Stroud: The History Press. p. 107. ISBN 0750906502 which was built in the early 1920s.Heathfield, John & David Berguer. (2016) ''Whetstone Revealed''. London: Chaville Press. pp. 201-202. ISBN 9780993006333

Notes and references

External links