Samuel Simms the elder
British composer (1784-1868)
Samuel Simms (1784 – 1868) was an English organist and composer.
Background
He was born in 1784, the son of John Simms (1744 - 1824) and his wife, Latitia Rogers. Samuel Simms was esteemed one of the finest organists of his time, and many of his siblings held musical posts in the Midlands.
In 1805 he was a candidate for the post of organist at St. Alkmund's Church, Whitchurch, Shropshire, but the conditions were so unsatisfactory that only three of those assembled would compete. He finally settled at St Thomas’ Church, Stourbridge, and held the position for half a century until his death.
In 1863 there was an attempt to force him to resign on a pension of £15 (equivalent to £1,629 in 2025) per annum, at the instigation of the either the minister or some of the congregation. The exact complaint against him is not substantiated, but suggested to be related to the performance of his duties. He did however, command support from former pupils who rose to his defence.
His son, Samuel Simms (1836-1885) succeeded him at Stourbridge.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Samuel Simms the elder” is british composer (1784-1868). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Samuel, Simms and elder, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7412634. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1784, 1868, 1744 and 1824.
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This entry incorporates text from “Samuel Simms the elder” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.