William George Simmonds (1876 - 1968) began his artistic career as a painter; having studied under Walter Crane at the Royal College of Art and then at the Royal Academy, where he first exhibited in 1903 and continued to do so throughout his life.
At the time of the First World War Simmonds first took up carving. Early ivory pieces make clear references to Japanese netsuke, both in terms of proportion and anatomical observation. In 1919 a move to the Cotswolds with his wife Eve set the seal on a career in sculpture which spanned six decades. Working in wood, marble, alabaster, ivory, and latterly in clay, Simmonds' minutely observed carvings of English flora and fauna illustrate his matchless local knowledge and intense commitment to his subject matter.
Most fittingly described in 1973 in a Fine Art Society catalogue as: "Representative of the calm, still centre of the Arts and Crafts Movement", Simmonds had retrospective exhibitions at Painswick in 1966, and two years later at Cheltenham. A further exhibition in conjunction with his wife's work was put on by The Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum in 1980