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Related by City - Bury St Edmunds
Related by County - Suffolk
Bury St Edmunds England
98 Victory Avenue
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Reggie Symonds
Working in the Housing DepartmentBiography
Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by) : Reginald Ernest Symonds
Gender: Male
Date and Place of Birth: 19th July 1894. Bury St. Edminds, Suffolk
Date and Place of Death: 25th March 1964. Westminster
Nationality: British
Biography
Childhood: His Great-Grand-Father, Thomas Symonds, was described as a Gentleman or Farmer. His Grandfather, Robert Symonds, at 15yrs was living alone with a servant and described as living on own means. In 1871 he was described as a farmer of 310acres. His eldest brother was farming 475acres. His Father followed his brother as Brewer in Bury St Edmonds.
He had one sibling, Frank Symonds. Frank was born in 1895 and was killed in action on 1st July 1916 (the first day of the Battle of the Somme).
Parents: Father: Ernest Symonds, born: 1863 in Norfolk. Mother : Annie Mary Payne.
Parent’s occupations: Brewer
Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: unknown
Occupation: Charted Surveyor and Land Agent
Place of residence at Gretna: unknown
Job title at Gretna: Working in the housing department
Marital status: Married
Children: N/A
Travels: Is thought to have gone to Canada in 1956.
Reginald Ernest Symonds worked in the Housing Department at Gretna. He went on to marry Daphne Sayer, a Gretna Girl, and they settled in New Barnet, where Reggie became a successful estate agent.
He was born in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk on 19th July 1894, the son of Ernest and Annie Mary Symonds. Ernest was a Head Brewer.
Reggie worked in the Housing Department at Gretna. He was a close friend of W G Emmett who wrote an unpublished memoir, including about his time at Mossband. They went walking together in the Lake District and remained life-long friends. Reggie married Daphne Sayer, who worked at Gretna, in Cornwall in 1923. They don’t seem to have had any children. They lived in New Barnet in London and Reggie pursued a successful career as an estate agent. Emmett says that he and Reggie travelled to New Zealand in the 1950s to visit another of their former Gretna colleagues, “Daddy” Henderson.
Reggie died in 1962 in London, shortly after retiring to Worthing.
