The first Simons about whom anything is known was Jacobus.

There appears to be some doubt about when he came to England. According to Margaret Gunkel he was in his thirties (1860’s) as the work opportunities were better here, but it is known that, his son, Francis, was born in Holland and came to England when he four years old (1876).

Jacobus was a skilled artisan in many trades. He was shoemaker, specialising in invalid shoes. At one time he was also a competent basket-maker which included designing and making beach chairs - the first of the type - which incorporated a hood giving complete protection from the wind. These were still very popular at seaside resorts in Holland in the 1920's.

In London he found an outlet for his basket-work by making fishing baskets designed to each customer’s requirements, particularly among the Harley Street doctors. Fancy cane bird-cages were another of his specialities. He made cane furniture, some for Queen Victoria’s children; only recently, a London relation came across one being repaired in an antiques shop. No job satisfied him for long and he tried many ways of earning a living. When basketry and shoe-making palled, he took a confectioner's shop and at one time he went as a shoe salesman. Nevertheless, the family do not appear to have been at all poor. They lived mostly in the Regent's Park area of London In big houses in Albany Street and Titchfield Street

Physically he was quite impressive; he was six feet tall had blue eyes, and his hair was white by the time he was thirty When he was forty. he married Margaret Clements who was only seventeen, and settled in London.

Her origins are vague, though she came from Essex. It is thought that she may have had some Scottish forebears as an aunt and uncle had Scots names. When questioned on the subject she was always evasive; perhaps her family did not approve of her marrying an older man. However, she was much In love with her handsome husband and the marriage appears to have been a happy one - wives of that time expected less from married life then they do now- They had eighteen children, only six of whom lived to be adults.

Margaret was dark and petite, gentle and kind; Margaret Gunkel remembers sitting at, her feet and learning to knit and she was very fond of her granny.

Jacobus' and Margaret's life together was anything but dull. Jacobus was a lively, gregarious man and went out a good deal - Margaret stayed at home, of course, to look after the children. He was a popular, hail-fellow-well-met type of man who loved to talk with his friend, a good tenor voice and could yodel. He was fond of music. He possessed one of the first gramophones. The Dutch and German friends would often come for musical evenings round the piano, when all the members of the family had to take a turn whether they liked it or not.

An uncle recalled one occasion when two youngsters did not want to sing their duet but were kept going by Jacob’s - their father standing behind them with a big stick and giving them a whack whenever they showed signs of flagging!

Jacobus was anxious that his children - or at least, his sons - should do well, and some attended a French school, L'Ecole Francaise de Bedford Passage, in London. Two or three were sent to art school to learn crafts and woodwork and eventually had their own reproduction antiques business. Another, Francis, was put to work in a laboratory at St., George's Hospital to get a good training.

Jacobus outlived his wife, Margaret and made his home with sons and daughters in turn; I gather that they found such a dominating person hard to live with. When he came to live with his son. Francis, in Manchester, he brought with him several top hats!

He died at the age of ninety, in 1920. When his daughter Floss and granddaughter Margaret went over to Holland in the 1950"s, they were unable to trace Simons relations, though they did go in the house where the family had once lived In Amsterdam