John Simmons (buried 1930)

John was born in Farnborough, Warwickshire, the son of Charles and Ann Emma. He was baptised on 6th May 1860 in the village. His father was a land agent and maltster. As a young man, John studied art in London and produced several fine pictures, some of the area around Henley where he lived in the 1870's and some of children. John seems to have given up art in the 1880's and in 1887, he married Charlotte Goodall at St Pancras Church, Old St Pancras on 27th September. The following year, a son Cyril Deane Simmons was born. By 1891, the family were living in South Africa where John worked for Aegis Co. in Port Elizabeth as a secretary. John and Charlotte returned to England several times over the following decades. Their second son, Edward Deane Simmons was born in Oxfordshire in 1902. John's father died in 1910. By the late 1920's, John had retired and he and Charlotte moved back to England. In 1929, they were living at 53 Shakespeare Road in Worthing. John died on 26th October 1930 at The Inkerman Hotel in Shelley Road. Administration was granted in Cape Town on 13th Oct 1931 to Frederick Kendil secretary. He was replaced on 15th May 1933 by Eric Gorst Dean.

John's wife Charlotte who is remembered on his gravestone was born in Nettlebed in Oxfordshire in 1867. Her maiden name was Goodall and her father was a woodsman. John and Charlotte married in 1887 at St Pancras Old Church. After John died in 1930, Charlotte stayed in Worthing but in 1939 was evacuated to Henley-on-Thames. She returned to Worthing a year later and died at the Seabrook Nursing Home in Queen's Road on 1st March 1940. Her place of burial is not known.

Cyril Deane Simmons moved to Rhodesia from Port Elizabeth in 1910. He served with various regiments during the First World War. He served as a magistrate and was Chairman of Public Services Board in Rhodesia. He retired in 1947. Edward also moved to Rhodesia and worked for the police force as a detective inspector. He returned to England in 1935.