Background
Symonds was born in Winchester, the son of the city"s bailiff John Symonds and his wife Joan.
Symonds was born in Winchester, the son of the city"s bailiff John Symonds and his wife Joan.
John became bailiff of the city in 1565–1567, and again in 1580. William became a wealthy clothier and mayor of Winchester in 1575, 1585 and 1596. As for Peter, he was sent to London in 1542 or 1543, where he served as an apprentice to William Wilkinson, a London sheriff and alderman, and continued in the service of his widow, Joan, after Wilkinson"s death in 1543.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer advised her to flee abroad, which she did after his execution in the 1550s.
She died in 1556; among her bequests was £6 13s. 4d. (about £1,135 in today"s money) to Symonds in London.
Symonds became a successful mercer, and was one of the three wardens (renter warden) of the Worshipful Company of Mercers by 1583. In 1582, he was among the rich of the city, and one of the two richest men in his parish.
J. North. Hare attributes this wealth to the cloth trade that “dominated London"s exports”.
By his death, sometime between 24 April 1586 and 29 July 1587, he had accumulated a large amount of land in the South East of England. In addition, he left annual payments for a number of charitable purposes, including the poor of All Saint, Lombard Street and Chadwell in Essex. lieutenant was this almshouse that was to become Peter Symonds College.
However, legal struggles over Symonds" land delayed construction.
Richard Symonds, claimed to be Peter"s sole heir, occupied the property at Ingleby in Chadwell and Temple Marsh in West Ham before selling them, breaking the terms of Peter"s will. By 1600, after reportedly paying £280, the Winchester city corporation secured the land.
lieutenant is unknown when exactly the almshouse was constructed, though it was in progress in 1604, and has been accepted to be complete by 1607. King James I gave royal consent for the hospital in 1615, thus giving the hospital legal status.