Called "the silent heart of the arts and crafts movement" William Simmonds was artist, sculptor, and designer, as well as a draughtsman and craftsman.
Born in 1876 in Constantinople, where his architect father was working, Simmonds was encouraged to draw and make cut-outs from childhood. On leaving school he was trained in his father’s office for five years, studying part-time at Windsor School of Art. He then went to the Royal College of Art from 1893–9, under Walter Crane, and the Royal Academy, from 1899–1904. From here he secured work as an assistant to the American painter and muralist Edwin Austin Abbey, working on many of the murals for the State Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from 1905–10.
Returning to England, he was introduced to the Camden Town group and many members of the Arts and Crafts movement by his future wife Eve, who had studied under Walter Sickert. Soon after, in addition to painting, he began sculpting and craftmaking figures. These are highly valued today.
During WWI, although a pacifist, he secretly worked on designing the first tank with Colonel R. E. B. Crompton, before moving onto aircraft designs with De Havilland. After the war he moved to a village in Gloucestershire, surrounded by Art and Crafts practitioners. One of his close neighbours was William Rothenstein, the immensely influential painter and head of the Royal College of Art from 1920 – 1935, and the two became good friends. Rothenstein gave him his first exhibition of sculpture in London.
However, it was for his stunning puppets that he in now famous. These miniature masterpieces were a revelation and the largest collection is appropriately in the Gloucestershire Museum today.