The William Thomas Sims Clock, in Stroud town centre - Four Clocks, junction of Kendrick Street, George Street, Russell Street and London Road
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.
Size: 3469px × 5399px
Location: Stroud, GL5 3DY
Photo credit: © Tony Smith / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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