william simmonds
Subject : William Simmonds (b 1810 – d 1889)
Researchers : Julie Cameron & Sue Driscoll
Young widowed West Horsley gardener seeks new start in Sussex
William Simmonds was a gardener from West Horsley who was widowed by the age of 25 after also losing both of his daughters. Despite the death of a third child shortly after his second marriage, he raised two children with his wife Selina as they moved around the south-east of England. Following Selina’s death, William went back close to his birthplace before ending his days in the Guildford Union Workhouse.
William was the sixth of eight known children for James and Elizabeth Simmonds and baptised on 9th December 1810 at St Mary’s Church, West Horsley, Surrey 1, 2. No occupation was recorded for William’s father James, but on the later baptism record of William’s sister Sarah in 1814, James was a shoemaker, and a parish clerk on his last child’s baptism record four years later.
William’s wife and two daughters die
When he was aged about 22, labourer William married local girl Hannah Blundell at St Mary’s Church in February 1833 3. Hannah was some 11 years older than William 4. She was expecting their first child, Sarah, who was born in West Horsley in June 1833 but only lived for ten weeks 5. Hannah was soon pregnant again, with Ann born around July 1834 6. Ann’s life was also cut short, passing away in October, followed by her mother Hannah in January 1835, aged 35 6, 7. Official birth, marriage and death records did not begin until 1837, so the causes of their early deaths are unknown.
A second relationship, and the stigma of illegitimacy
This must have been a devastating time for William who decided to move away from West Horsley. He is next traced in Hartfield, Sussex, about 35 miles (56km) south-east of West Horsley, where, on 25th January 1840, he became the father of twins Henry and William, born at their mother Selina Godly’s family home of Cotchford Farm, Hartfield 9.
The twins were baptised on 11th February 1840 at Hartfield’s St Mary’s Church 10. William was not named as father, the boys being recorded as ‘illegitimate sons’ of Selina Godly, but his surname Simmonds was given as both boys’ middle name.
William and Selina’s wedding took place a week after that, on 18th February at a different church, St Margaret the Queen, in Buxted, some 10 miles (16km) south of Hartfield 11. William, aged about 29, was a widowed gardener with spinster Selina, about 24, a servant, daughter of farmer Luke Godly 12. The marriage certificate said that William and Selina were residing in Buxted at the time of the marriage, although the baptism record the previous week had said Selina was living in Hartfield.
The twins’ births were officially registered two days after the wedding under the surname Simmonds, so it seems that the couple were doing their best to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy for their boys. The reason for the baptisms taking place ahead of the wedding very soon became clear when one of the twins, Henry, died aged five weeks from ‘debility’ in early March at Cotchford Farm 13. He was described on his death certificate as ‘illegitimate child of Selena Godly’, so the marriage had not been enough to remove that stigma.
The Census the following year noted William, Selina and their son William lodging with Selina’s parents Luke and Mary Godly in Withyham, very close to Cotchford Farm 14. They were living on an estate known as ‘Penn’s Rocks’, so called because it was owned about 150 years earlier by William Penn, the founding father and first Governor of the US state of Pennsylvania 15.
In July 1848, William and Selina’s only daughter, Frances, was born in Hartfield 16.
Selina’s father Luke had died the previous summer at Penn’s Rocks, and by 1851 ‘gardener’ William and his family had moved to Newbridge, a small village close to Hartfield 17, 18. Selina’s mother Mary had gone to live with her son at his 148-acre farm a short distance away just over the county border in Penshurst, Kent 19.
From Sussex to Kent
Ten years on, the Simmonds family had moved 30 miles (48km) north-east to Cuxton, Kent, just south of Rochester on the River Medway 20, 21. This was a far more industrial area than the family had been used to – their home was a cottage in Brickfield Place, next to the local National School, and close to the Cuxton Brickfield – but William, 50, was still working as a gardener.
William and Selina’s daughter, 12-year-old Frances, was their only child with them as son William had signed up for the Royal Navy as an 18-year-old in 1858 22. At the time of the 1861 Census, he was on board SS Hannibal in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria as the Navy helped to maintain peace in the area around Beirut following a major civil conflict 23, 24.
William and Selina continued to move home, and by 1865 they were living in Norwood, Surrey, now part of the London Borough of Croydon. It was here that Selina died from heart disease in August that year, aged 50 25.
Back to Horsley
Five years later, the 1871 Census showed William, now aged 61, lodging at Lynx Hill, East Horsley, adjacent to his birthplace of West Horsley 26. Lynx Hill was probably the cottage built for workers of the Lovelace Estate, so he was likely to have been working there 27. His son William was still serving in the Navy, while his daughter Frances had married a Serjeant Major in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and was living in barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire 28, 29.
How long widower William was at Lynx Hill, or was able to carry on working, is unknown. The next record traced, the 1881 Census, listed him as an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse 30. His elder brother Thomas was also an inmate there.
It seems likely that William remained in the Workhouse for the rest of his life, passing away there on 7th April 1889 from ‘decay of age’ 31. He was buried four days later at his home church of St Mary’s in West Horsley 32.
April 2023, updated November 2025
Editor: Mike Brock
We’d love to hear from you if you are a relative of William Simmonds. Please contact us by email at spikelives@charlotteville.co.uk
Sources and References
Original Surrey parish records are available at the Surrey History Centre, Woking. Digitised parish records were sourced through Ancestry.co.uk. A complete list may be found here William Simmonds references
Spike Lives is a Heritage project that chronicles the lives of inmates, staff and the Board of Guardians of the Guildford Union Workhouse at the time of the 1881 Census. The Spike Heritage Museum in Guildford offers guided tours which present a unique opportunity to discover what life was like in the Casual/Vagrant ward of a Workhouse. More information can be found here