| Admin History | Edward Simms (c 1803-1897), clergyman, writer, was the only son of Samuel Simms of Bath, gent. He was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, graduating BA in 1827 and MA in 1830 ('Crockfords Clerical Directory' and 'Alumni Oxon' have respectively 1826 and 1829). He was ordained deacon in 1836, priest in 1837, and became curate of Dudley, Wilton, Wiltshire at the age of fifty. In 1856 he moved to Plaitford, Wiltshire, where he remained until 1860. In 1861 he was listed in the Census as assistant curate of St John the Evangelist, in Brighton, Sussex and in 1870 he became vicar of Escot in Devon, a post which he retained until 1877. His various publications include: 'Holy thoughts and holy prayers' (1848), 'Devout Musings on the Book of Psalms' (1851), 'The first six books of the Iliad of Homer' (1873), and [as William Edward Simms] 'A Spiritual Commentary on the Book of Psalms' (1882). His 'Stanzas to the memory of Sir Walter Scott' was privately printed in the 1890s. He retired to Bushey Park, Salterton, Devon, where he lived until his death. He was alive in 1896, but deceased by 1898. His son Spencer Edward Simms (c 1862-1941) also became a clergyman, and for twenty years was rector of Charmouth. Edward Simms had five daughters and one son, the eldest was Miss Maria Hutton Simms who may have been the compiler of the family autograph album from which these letters seem to have come. |