Simms of Ipstones

[lindarhead]

Hi all, does anyone have any information on the Simms, or Sims family of the Ipstones area. I'm trying to find out who the parents of Rupert Simms born 1854 are? Or any other info about the family that anyone may have I do have some records but I also have huge gaps....|computer|

Regards,

Linda
:)

[Jan1954]

September quarter 1853, Rupert SIMS, volume 6b, page 192, Cheadle district (which covered Ipstones).

The certificate should tell you his parents' details. ;)

[lindarhead]

Thanks Jan....I did think of that but it's not my tree it's for someone else and not sure if they're okay with my spending their money on certs!..:) So merely wondered if anynone had the info already.

Linda

[Jan1954]

Oh Linda! Join the rest of us and become really, really good at spending other peoples' money! |biggrin|

If not, I will have a rummage in the censuses to see what I can find. Have you found any census information already? If so, what have you found?

[lindarhead]

Oh Linda! Join the rest of us and become really, really good at spending other peoples' money! |biggrin|

If not, I will have a rummage in the censuses to see what I can find. Have you found any census information already? If so, what have you found?
Hi Jan, yes I found some other Simms, two other Ruperts one born 1791 and one 1823 , a couple of Isaacs 1700s, but can't pinpoint who Rupert 1853/4 belongs to, can't find an 1861 census for him..Linda

[Jan1954]

Neither can I for 1861, but 1871 has this:

RG10; Piece: 2833; Folio: 90; Page: 23

57 Lower Green, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire

John Sims, Head, mar, 57, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
Elizabeth Sims, wife, mar, 57, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
John Sims, son, unm, 29, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
Rupert Sims, son, 17, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
James Simms, son, 11, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle

Does the occupation fit in with what you have?

[lindarhead]

Neither can I for 1861, but 1871 has this:

RG10; Piece: 2833; Folio: 90; Page: 23

57 Lower Green, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire

John Sims, Head, mar, 57, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
Elizabeth Sims, wife, mar, 57, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
John Sims, son, unm, 29, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
Rupert Sims, son, 17, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle
James Simms, son, 11, Brickmaker, b Staffordshire, Newcastle

Does the occupation fit in with what you have?
The info I have is as follows...'Rupert lost both of his hands and one arm at the age of eight but learned to write by inserting a pencil in a hole in the leather case he wore on his right arm. He became a tea hawker at the age of 16 but later became a secondhand bookseller. He ran a bookshop in Newcastle-under-Lyme. During this career he spent eleven years collecting and collating the information for his book Bibliotheca Stafforiensis.


'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis' was published in 1894 at Newcastle-under-Lyme by Rupert Simms and printed by AC Lomas, The Johnson's Head, Lichfield. 450 numbered copies only were printed for subscribers whose names are listed in the work. '

You'd think someone like this would be easy to find..or maybe it's just me..:)

[Jan1954]

He's around in 1881:

RG11; Piece: 2699; Folio: 93; Page: 32

12 Friar Street, Newcastle, Staffordshire

Rupert Simms, Head, mar, 27, Second hand book dealer, b Ipstones, Staffordshire
Mary E Simms, wife, 21, b Newcastle, Staffordshire
Miriam E R (?) Simms, dau, 2, b Newcastle, Staffordshire
Rupert P (?) Simms, son, 8 mo, b Newcastle, Staffordshire

December quarter 1877, volume 6b, page 93, Newcastle L district has Rupert SIMMS and Mary Ellen REYNOLDS on the same marriage registration page.

[lindarhead]

Hi again, yes I found that one...thanks Jan. Don't think the 1871 can be him unless you can make bricks with one hand!!..:)

[lindarhead]

Hi again, yes I found that one...thanks Jan. Don't think the 1871 can be him unless you can make bricks with one hand!!..:)
Hi again Jan...well that 1871 census could poss be our Rupert as I managed to find a chap in New Zealand who has some info on him..where I got the story about him having one arm from..and apparently he lost his arm when he was about 9 in an accident in a brickworks!! What happened after his accident was that because he was considered useless as a worker he was sent to school. Which ultimately I should think would be to his benefit!
Not quite sure how he could've been working in the brickworks again when he was 17 but I'll dig a bit more I think.

Thanks so much for your help with this one.

Linda..:)

[Jan1954]

That is great news, Linda!

Maybe the "brickmaker" occupation in 1871 was an error. If memory serves me right (and without checking it again) I think that the occupation was recorded as ditto marks.

Fingers crossed for you, and let us all know what you find out.

[lindarhead]

That is great news, Linda!

Maybe the "brickmaker" occupation in 1871 was an error. If memory serves me right (and without checking it again) I think that the occupation was recorded as ditto marks.

Fingers crossed for you, and let us all know what you find out.
Hi Jan...well I finally found Rupert's parents but it's Rupert himself who is so interesting. As I said in a previous post he lost an arm and both hands in an accident as a child, the story goes that he was taking his father's lunch to him at the brick factory when he fell into a machine-a clay cutting machine.

I'll paste what I have below...

'Rupert lost both of his hands and one arm at a young age but learned to write by inserting a pencil in a hole in the leather case he wore on his right arm. It is thought that he was about 9 or 10 when he had the accident. The story goes that he was taking lunch to his father who worked in a brickworks. Somehow he became tangled up in a brick making machine,possibly some sort of guillotine used to chop up the clay and press it into molds. He lost one arm at the shoulder and the hand on the other arm.

From that point on he was going to be a cripple for the rest of his life - useless for doing any sort of work. So his parents sent him to school to give him something to do. His teacher noticed that he had pushed a slate pencil into the leather glove he used over his stump, and could write. He continued to read a lot, and became interested in books and book selling.

He became a tea hawker at around the age of 16/17 but later became a secondhand bookseller. He ran a bookshop in Newcastle-under-Lyme. During this career he spent eleven years collecting and collating the information for his book Bibliotheca Stafforiensis.



'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis' was published in 1894 at Newcastle-under-Lyme by Rupert Simms and printed by AC Lomas, The Johnson's Head, Lichfield. 450 numbered copies only were printed for subscribers whose names are listed in the work.



The full title is 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis; or a Bibliographical Account of Books and other Printed Matter relating to, printed or published in, or written by, a native, resident, or person deriving a title from, any portion of the County of Stafford; giving a full collation and biographical notices of authors and printers. together with as full a list as possible of Prints, Engravings, Etchings, &c, of any part thereof; and portraits of persons so connected.



here is a quote from his book:



'Now old Tredgortha's dead and gone,

We ne'er shall see him more;

He used to wear an old grey coat,

All buttoned down before.'



Many letters to and from Rupert Simms occasionally appear at auction.'

Quite a man I'm sure you'll agree to overcome such a disability and actually write, by hand a book that has 584 pages. The dedication in the front of his book is quite impressive and is as follows...

'
DEDICATED

TO THE MEMORY OF

WALTER WILLIAM. LATE EARL OF DARTMOUTH

(WHO WAS HIS EARLIEST PATROX),

AND

(by SPECIAL PERMISSION)

TO

THE RIGHT HoN. THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF STAFFORDSHIRE

(THE EARL of DARTMOUTH).

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE UNDER LYME.

THE HON. AND RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD,

AND

THE RIGHT HON. AND MOST REV. THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK,

BY THEIR OBLIGED AND OBEDIENT SERVANT,

RUPERT SIMMS.'

He also thanks his wife in his preface....written in the third person as The Compiler of the work.
'And last, though not least, to the best woman in the world, his wife, who has been
helpful at all times, buoying up his spirits in the darkest hours, and cheerfully agreeing to
forego pleasure, comfort, and the necessaries of life, so that the Work might be carried out.'

Personally I think that's wonderful..:)

Linda