Town's historic clock marks a timely bequest (From Stroud News and Journal)

Town's historic clock marks a timely bequest

Grocer William Sims knew he would be remembered when early last century he bequeathed to Stroud the funds for a lasting monument in the middle of town.

But what else motivated this extraordinary man to leave his fortune to the town he loved?

Reporters Sam Bond and Anna-Marie Hitchings turn back the clock on a Stroud monument.

Research by Howard Beard. Photographs courtesy of Peckhams of Stroud and Howard Beard.

IN A WAY Stroud's Four Clocks share the blame for the county's shortage of hospital beds.

When philanthropist and businessman William Thomas Sims willed £1,000 to the town to provide an illuminated clock in 1917 he made a proviso.

If the Stroud Urban District Council did not want the clock, the money would go : "...unto the trustees of Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary at Gloucester for the purpose of endowing a bed therein and otherwise for the benefit of the institution."

The wealthy Mr Sims also left £2,000 to be invested into a trust fund which would provide Christmas dinners for Stroud's poor.

Though Mr Sims died on June 29, 1917 at the age of 79 the clock was not finished for almost four years.

The Stroud Journal recorded the completion of the 'imposing' structure in February, 1921

"It is generally admitted that the tower is a very handsome addition to the architecture of the town," it reads.

"The clock is meeting a long felt want in the town."

In the late 19th century William Sims owned a grocery, wine and spirit merchants in the High Street in the building which is now the TSB bank.

A fact that the obituaries curiously neglect to mention is that he also ran a lower class of Victorian off-licence, the ale and porter store, in Russell Street as a side line.

He was a widower and his only child died well before Mr Sims himself so he was left with no close family to whom he could pass on his possessions and considerable fortune.

During his life he was an active member of the community and something of a civic leader, signing up for duties with many worthy causes.

A councillor on two separate councils and member of the town's Board of Guardians, the Local Board of Health and Painswick School Board he certainly kept himself busy and was well known as a nonconformist Liberal and protector of the poor.

He retired around the turn of the century and left Stroud to live out his days as a country gent somewhere in the Forest of Dean.

But he obviously retained an affection for the town where he had lived and worked, gifting it with a much-needed monument when he died almost 20 years later.

On his death the Stroud papers noted Mr Sims had: "...shrewdly recognised the lack of public monuments here."

And writing in 1917 the reporter could not resist a spot of jingoism. "This illuminated clock, while perpetuating the memory of Mr Sims, may also serve as a reminder of the greatest of all wars, for 1917 will stand for ever in the world's history as the decisive year of this tremendous fight against Kaiserism," he writes.

When it came to guessing where the clock might be built he missed the mark, claiming: "King Street Parade is practically the only place with sufficient space for a public monument of any dimensions."

Instead the Sims' Clock, to be known by its correct name, was erected on top of the public toilets at the junction of Russell, George and Kendrick Streets and London Road.

The write-up following its grand opening lists the tower's dimensions and goes into considerable detail when it comes to describing the architectural style.

The fact that the clock's four faces were lit by electricity caused quite a stir when they were unveiled - the papers of the day made much of the fact and the people were clearly very proud of their new clock and it is still much admired to this day.