William Blackall Simonds (1761–1834) was a

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

and banker in the English town of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. He founded both H & G Simonds Brewery, which merged with other breweries to form Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co in 1960, and J & C Simonds Bank, one of the precursors to

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

bank. Simonds came from a family with estates at

Arborfield Arborfield is a village on the A327 road in Berkshire about south-east of Reading, about west of Wokingham. It lies in the civil parish of Arborfield and Newland in the Borough of Wokingham, about west of its sister village of Arborfield C ...

to the south-east of Reading, but his father, William Simonds senior, had moved to Reading to set up a

malting Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most ...

business that later grew to include brewing. William senior married Mary Blackall, and William Blackall Simonds was their only son. He was probably born in Reading, with records showing that he was baptised at the Broad Street Independent Chapel in Reading on 13 August 1761. When William senior died in 1782, William Blackall Simonds inherited his business. He married Elizabeth May, who was the heiress of Daniel May, the

miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a village hall. Outside its grouped developed area is an in ...

, and the ward of Thomas May, the miller of

Brimpton Brimpton is a mostly rural village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Berkshire, England. Brimpton is centred boxing the compass, ESE of the town of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury. Toponymy One suggested origin of the name of ...

and founder of a brewery in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

. In 1789 Simonds acquired a site on the banks of the

River Kennet The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which � ...

, and commissioned the architect

Sir John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the R ...

to build a brewery and house on the site. The riverside site permitted transport of raw materials and finished product by

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

, and was to continue to serve as a brewery until 1980. In 1791, Simonds was co-founder of a bank in Reading's Market Place, in partnership with local businessmen Robert Micklem, John Stephens, and Robert Harris. His motivation in doing this was to help the brewery grow and to offer its output to a wider customer base. However this proved difficult, largely because local magistrates refused to issue licences for new public houses to sell his beer. As a consequence, Simonds decided to concentrate on his banking activities, and in 1814 he dissolved the original partnership and established a new family-run bank in partnership with his younger son Henry Simonds, and his cousins John Simonds and Charles Simonds. This bank was located in Reading's King Street and later became known as John Simonds, Charles Simonds & Co., Reading Bank. Simonds served as mayor of Reading in 1816. He retired to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and then to

, where he died on 13 January 1834 and was buried in the family plot in

Hurst Hurst may refer to: Places England * Hurst, Berkshire, a village * Hurst, North Yorkshire, a hamlet * Hurst, a settlement within the village of Martock, Somerset * Hurst, West Sussex, a hamlet * Hurst Spit, a shingle spit in Hampshire ** Hurs ...

churchyard. Simonds' descendants were involved in running both the brewery and bank for many years after his death. By the late 1860s the bank had branches in neighbouring towns from

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

. It was finally sold in 1913 to Barclays Bank, who continued to operate from its original King Street premises until 2008. William Blackall Simonds' grandson

George Blackall Simonds George Blackall Simonds (6 October 1843 – 16 December 1929) was an English sculptor and director of H & G Simonds Brewery in Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Biography George was the second son of George Simonds Senior of Readi ...

was a well known 19th century sculptor, who became chairman of the brewery in 1910. The brewery merged with the London breweries of Courage and Barclay Perkins in 1960. The merged company, known as Courage, Simonds and Barclay, continued to operate from Simonds' original location until 1980, when it moved to a new brewery on the southern outskirts of the town, close to the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonds, William Blackall 1761 births 1834 deaths English brewers English bankers People from Reading, Berkshire Mayors of Reading, Berkshire