William Blackall Simonds (1761 – 1834) may not have been connected directly with Arborfield, but his father lived there. W. B. Simonds was connected both with the Brewery and with the Simonds Bank. He was already in the brewing business by 1781 when the Bank was formed, and inherited the malting and brewing business from his father in 1782. The Hop-Leaf Brewery was established in Broad Street in 1785, but eventually moved to the banks of the Kennet where it remained until 1980 when it was replaced by the Courage Brewery by Junction 11 of the M4.

The Bank had been intended to help the brewing business to grow, and W.B. Simonds' partners in the Bank in Market-Place were Robert Micklem (a draper), John Stephens (another brewer) and Robert Harris (mealman). However, in 1814 he dissolved the partnership and started another Bank at King Street. His new partners were all related. His younger son Henry (1795-1874) had a thriving wine and spirit business, and his two cousins John Simonds (1766-1845) of Arborfield and Charles Simonds (1768-1859) of Sindlesham were connected with farming and milling.

The story gets a little complicated, because by the 1841 Census, Charles Simonds had moved to Newlands along with his wife Sarah, 10 years his younger. At this stage, he was described simply as a ‘Banker’. Among his small staff were Caleb Jeacock (then aged 28) and Caleb’s mother Ann (55). Caleb and his daughter Avice were responsible for the Census in the Liberty of Newland right up until 1901. Charles and Sarah Simonds were still at Newlands in the 1851 Census.

The brewing branch of the family continued through W.B. Simonds’ son Blackall Simonds, who later took into partnership his two younger brothers, Henry and George in about 1834. When W.B. Simonds retired in 1845 the brewery became H. & G. Simonds. By the 1870’s, the Simonds brewery was well-placed to gain the contract to supply the beer to the Army when it moved to Aldershot. A younger George Blackall Simonds was a well-known sculptor who was commissioned to provide the red lion memorial in Forbury Park in addition to other statues in Reading and elsewhere. A particularly famous one is in Central Park, New York. The brewery was eventually known as 'Courage, Simonds and Barclay' (In the 1990's it was still possible to drink Simonds' 'Hop-leaf' ale brewed under licence in Malta, thanks to the old Army connection).  Click on the link to see a history of the brewery from Reading Museum (in Acrobat format).

John Simonds the second (1807-1876) also joined the banking business, which by 1855 was able to expand a twice-weekly branch operation in Wokingham into a full-scale branch. He noted this occasion in his diary as follows: 4^th September 1855 – I rode "Blackbeard" to Wokingham. Withers brought the money by railway and we commenced business in the new shop – it is not quite complete but is very comfortable and approved of much by our customers.

By the 1861 Census, 54-year-old John Simonds was living back at Newlands as a ‘Banker & Farmer employing 15 Men and 3 Boys’. His wife Emma was 14 years his junior, and was from Swallowfield. Four of their children, Mary (16), John (15), Emma (11) and Catharine (9) were all born in Sonning.

Ten years later, John and Emma only had their youngest child in residence, but John Simonds the third (1846 – 1929) was back in the village by 1881. In 1859, the younger John and his brother William had joined their father as partners in the Bank along with their cousin James.

By 1881, we find the younger John (35) and his wife Ellen (34) at Newlands, but their children’s birthplaces show where they had been living earlier in their marriage. Ellen, Beatrice and Selina (11, 8 and 6) had been born in St. Marylebone in London, whereas Constance and Alice (5 and 3) were born in Arborfield, not Newland. The youngest, John Hayes Simonds, aged 1, was born at ‘Newlands’. Were his parents living at the Rectory for a few years? By the way, mother Ellen was the daughter of Sir John Hayes, Baronet, who was the Rector of Arborfield from 1839 for forty years.

The 1891 Census shows that Sir John Hayes, then aged 91, had moved in to Newlands with his daughter and son-in-law. By this time, he had another grandchild, Maurice, aged 8, who had been born in London.

John Simonds the third, widowed before 1901, exerted his benevolent authority over the village for many years, as described in his Obituary and in many other web pages on this site.

His son John Hayes Simonds then took on the role until his own death in 1946, after which the Estate was put up for sale. He was connected by marriage to the Sturges family of Barkham Square, who were themselves connected with local government via Wokingham Rural District Council. There is more information on the Simonds family in the Women's Institute's history from 1922, written by Beatrice Simonds with much reference to historic documents connected with the family. 

We can trace the Simonds family before their involvement in brewing. We learn from David Nash Ford’s family history (David put together the ‘Berkshire History’ site) that the May and Simonds families were closely linked. Jane May was born in 1733 at Long Sutton in Hants, and married Thomas Simonds of Arborfield, who was born there in 1731. She died in 1802 in Hurst (Newland?) , while Thomas died at Arborfield Cross in 1808. A Will left by Mary May, a spinster who lived in Pangbourne until her death in 1820, lists her sister Jane Breedon, widow of the late Revd. John Symonds Breedon of Bere Court, plus nieces Mary and Elizabeth Simonds, daughters of William Blackall Simonds Esq.  This family needs a web-site to itself!