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Mr John "Tom" Simson was a retired Lloyds underwriter, and moved to Canal Walk in the 1970s. He was a keen artist, and as well as the painting he placed on the wall of his garage in Canal Walk, he most notably painted the three pictures purchased by the Town and Manor in 1984, and hung on the wall of the Corn Exchange:
1. "St. Lawrence offering the poor and needy to the Church instead of gold"
2. "John of Gaunt presenting his charter to the Town and Manor of Hungerford"
3. "John Rennie being welcomed by the Constable of Hungerford at the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal from Kintbury to Hungerford"
Photo Gallery:
"St Lawrence offering the poor and needy to the Church instead of gold"
"John of Gaunt presenting his charter to the Town and Manor of Hungerford"
"John Rennie being welcomed by the Constable of Hungerford at the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal from Kintbury to Hungerford"
The headstone of John and Ursula Simson, St Saviour's Churchyard, 2017.
More on "Tom" Simson:
The following article is adapted from text kindly provided by Dr James "Jimmy" Whittaker, December 2017:
If you walked across the canal bridge in the early 1980s and looked west towards No 1 Canal Walk, you would have seen a painting on the side of a garage which had been painted there by John “Tom” Simson. The painting depicted Tutti Day celebrations taking place in the Market Place just in front of the town hall.
His paintings in the Town Hall have been well documented on the Hungerford Virtual Museum website but what about the man himself.
Once again, the grave of this fellow was found in St. Saviour’s Churchyard in Hungerford, bearing the following inscription:
John Adhemar Simson 1908-1986
Beneath is an inscription to his wife:
Ursula Wyndham Simson 1910-1973
A middle name of Adhemar gets one thinking straight away about its origins.
JDS was born on 10 Feb 1908 in Eltham, South London, the son of Percival Simson and Isabell Maud Jackson. It was once a fashion for children to bear the mother’s maiden name as a middle name but this was not the case. Incidentally, his mother was born in St. Cloud France.
The census of 1911 reveals that JAS had two sisters – Rosamund Mary (b.1910) and Annette Helen (b.1880).
What is interesting is his father’s middle name of “Arbuthnot” and the fact that his father employed a nurse and two foreign servants to look after the family. The inference is that his father was quite well-to-do to be able to employ three people. Percival was an insurance broker as was his grandfather, Hermann Simson, also quite a wealthy man since he too employed three servants.
The name of Arbuthnot comes from Percival’s mother’s name, Alice Arbuthnot Thurn. JAS did not inherit this middle name either.
The next stage in this investigation was to examine names associated with his grandfather, Herman Simson. Herman was born in 1843 in Streatham, South London and was the son of John Simson and Jenny Anna.
Now this is where things become interesting. Lo and behold, Jenny Anna was born in Antwerp, Belgium and her surname was Azemar which in my opinion, may have been interpreted as Adhemar, taking into consideration pronunciation and translation.
Interesting also is that JAS’ great grandfather, John Frederick Simson, was born in Riga, Latvia in 1798 but classified as a British subject and was a consul for Baden and general merchant living in London. He also must have been quite wealthy since he supported a wife, 8 sons and 3 servants.
War Service:
JAS was part of the RNVR and served from 27 Oct 1939 throughout WW2. His service was “mentioned in dispatches”, which meant that he was a member of the army forces whose name appeared in an official report written by a superior praising gallant or meritious action in the face of the enemy.
In my opinion, this is easily believable when we learn that JAS was working on mine sweepers during active service. He served on the following vessels:
- HMT Lord Grey M/S, 3 Sep 1940.
- HMS Lord Melchett (FY 672). MS Trawler,15 Jan 1941 to 4 Apr 1941.
- HMS MMS 22 (J 522). Motor Mine sweeper, 25 Jun 1944 to late 1945.
Decorations:
- 3 Sep 1940: JAS was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, a third level military decoration awarded to officers.
- John “Tom” Simson was awarded his DSC for bravery, skill and enterprise in minesweeping operations off the coasts of Holland, Belgium and France.
- On 13 Sep 1945 he was awarded a bar to his DSC in further recognition of acts of gallantry.
Up until around 1966, JAS was living and working in the City of London as an underwriter for Lloyds, when he moved with his wife to Marlborough.
JAS married Ursula Wyndham Hughes in 1937 in Marlborough which would explain his connection with that town. It seems that John and his wife carried on the family tradition by naming their son John Wyndham Simson, Wyndham being the Christian name of her grandfather Wyndham Hope Hughes.
So, going back to John Simson’s baptised middle name, it seems that history continued to repeat itself. Both of their children were born in Marlborough during the war: John Wyndham Simson, b.1942, and Ester Mary Simson, b.1945.
Several questions still remain. Why was JAS called “Tom”, what was the origin of his artistic talents and what were the circumstances leading to his “Hungerford” artworks? Indeed, as a Marlborough resident, did he also honour that town with his work? Did he sell anything commercially or was this just a pastime. So many intriguing questions still to be answered!
More on Tom Simpson:
Maggee Slade kindly contacted the Virtual Museum in September 2024 with more about Tom Simson and one particular painting.
"Some thirty years ago I was gifted a painting by a friend. It was a painting bought from the 1978 City of London Art Exhibition by his father. It is 'Felled Beech in Savernake' by John Simson.
I contacted the Guildhall Art Gallery last year trying to find out more information about the Artist and painting. I received a reply, a copy of which I attach, together with an image of the painting, signature and exhibition label. I also attach pages from other exhibitions where he obviously exhibited and sold paintings. I also found a copy of a painting sold by Soulis Art Dealers of Corsham entitled 'The Avenue'. He seemed to have used various techniques and styles for each painting.
The Guildhall Art Gallery explained:
The exhibition from which your painting was purchased was one of the numerous externally-arranged art shows which took place in a temporary Guildhall Art Gallery structure between 1946 and 1987. The Gallery had been largely destroyed in 1941 by German bombing; after the war a temporary building was erected, using what was left of the original Gallery as its base. This structure was demolished in 1987 to make way for the new Gallery, which was eventually opened in 1999. During its existence, the temporary Gallery showed selections from the City of London's art collection, but also hosted externally-arranged exhibitions, most of which were also opportunities for artists to sell their works.
In the Gallery archive we hold programs with lists of works on display for many of these exhibitions. Upon initial inspection, I could see that we did not have any programs for an exhibition directly related to the Marlborough Artists.
However, I thought it possible that the painting in question could have been a part of a different exhibition. I could see that the date next to the signature seemed to be '76 so I tried the programs for exhibitions in or shortly after 1976.
I believe I have been able to identify your painting: in the program for the 1978 City of London Art Exhibition, exhibit 216 is a watercolour entitled Felled Beech in Savernake, which had a sale price of £50.00. This seems to fit with the partially legible label on the back of the painting (although the label says 'Savernake Forest' rather than just Savernake). The artist of this piece is listed as John A. Simson.
The City of London Art Exhibition was an annual event which displayed artworks submitted by amateur or professional artists who lived or worked in the City of London. John Simson appears to have been a fairly prolific artist. In addition to Felled Beech in Savernake, he had three other paintings selected for display in the 1978 exhibition, two more watercolours and an oil; I looked through a few of the other City of London Art Exhibition programs and he seems to have had multiple artworks on display most years. In 1976 he was awarded one of the six diplomas given by the Exhibition's Selection Jury each year to the pieces they considered the most impressive for an oil painting entitled Boys Bathing at Marsh Lock.
The exhibition programs do not feature any information on the featured artists beyond their names and their works displayed that year. However, I did a quick search to see whether there was anything about John A. Simson online. I was able to find this page on a local history website for the town of Hungerford in Berkshire (the Hungerford Virtual Museum!). It discusses an artist with a connection to the town named John Ahdemar Simson, who I believe to be the same person who produced your painting. The middle initial matches and according to the page Simson had worked in Lloyd's bank in the City of London, which would entitle him to submit artwork to the City of London Exhibition (according to the programs for the Exhibition, individuals who were no longer employed or living in the City of London but who had worked there for five years or longer were also allowed to submit work; as such, if Simson had been at Lloyd's for this period of time he would still be allowed to submit after leaving his position there). It further states that in 1966 he moved to Marlborough, near Hungerford; this would seem to be the connection with the Marlborough Artists. Savernake Forest, the subject of your painting, is in fact just outside Marlborough. If this is indeed the individual who painted the piece you have inherited, he sadly died in 1986 and is buried in Hungerford.
The Canal Wharf, 2011