George Blackall Simonds

Who was George Blackall Simonds?

George Blackall Simonds was an English sculptor and director of H & G Simonds Brewery in Reading in the English county of Berkshire.

George was the second son of George Simonds Senior of Reading, director of the H & G Simonds, and his wife, Mary Anne, the daughter of William Boulger of Bradfield. His grandfather was Reading brewing and banking entrepreneur, William Blackall Simonds. He added Blackall to his name after the death of his brother, Blackall Simonds II, in 1905. He was brother-in-law of the portrait painter, John Collingham Moore, and cousin of the botanist, George Simonds Boulger.

His best known works are The Falconer in Central Park in New York City and the Maiwand Lion in the Forbury Gardens in Reading in Berkshire.

In 1922, he temporarily came out of retirement to build the war memorial in Bradfield, the village where he lived in Berkshire. This commemorates the deaths in the First World War of those of the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers, including his son.

In 2005, users of Reading Borough Libraries, voted him winner of the 'Great People of Reading' poll.