Education
After education at Sherborne School in Dorset he studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Street Thomas"s Hospital London.
After education at Sherborne School in Dorset he studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Street Thomas"s Hospital London.
He also worked with the pioneering surgeon John Charnley on hip replacement surgery and became an expert in this field He very much disliked his given names and in adult life was universally known as Sam. From 1939 to 1941 he worked with West. Rowley Bristow at Street Nicholas"s Hospital Pyrford (subsequently renamed Rowley Bristow Hospital Pyrford), and when Rowley Bristow became Brigadier in charge of orthopaedic services of the British Army, he recruited Simmonds into the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Lieutenant Colonel Simmonds commanded base hospitals in North Africa, Sicily, France and the Far East.
After the war he returned to Pyrford and worked there and at The Royal Surrey County Hospital Guildford until his retirement in 1975. His simple but effective test for rupture of the Achilles tendon was developed in 1956/57 and is still widely used today.
A golf Blue (university sport) at Cambridge, his clinical skill with his hands was mirrored in lifelong amateur golf expertise. His 0 (zero) handicap for most of his adult life equalled that of a professional.