of Symonds (Harl. MS. 991), containing anecdotes and memoranda relating to his contemporaries, extending to 1660, was partly printed in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1796 (vol. lxiv. pt. i. p. 466) and for 1816 (vol. lxxxvi. pt. ii. p. 498), and in 'Notes and Queries' (2nd ser. vii. 141). This contains several stories relating to Oliver Cromwell, including that of his lifting up the lid of Charles's coffin and gazing on his body. Three volumes of genealogical collections for the county of Essex, compiled by Symonds, are now preserved at the Heralds' College, to which they were presented in 1710 by Gregory King [q. v.], into whose possession they came in 1685. In the second volume (fol. 613), under Great Yeldham, Symonds gives the pedigree of his own family, and in close proximity to his own name is 'an impression, in red wax, of an admirably engraved head in profile,' probably that of Symonds himself, by Thomas Simon [q. v.], the medallist. These collections were largely utilised by Morant in his 'History of Essex.'
Symonds also left behind him some musters of the king's army (Harl. MS. 986), two pocket-books containing notes of monuments in Oxfordshire and Berkshire and in Worcester Cathedral (Harl. MSS. 964-5), and five other books filled with memoranda of his tour on the continent, and notes on public buildings and pictures at Rome and elsewhere (Harl. MSS. Nos. 924, 943, 1278, Addit. MS. 17919, and Egerton MS. 1635). Another notebook (Egerton MS. 1636) contains 'secrets in painting learnt at Rome,' together with notes of 'certain old paintings I have seen in London since my return from Italy.' Much of the information given in Walpole's 'Anecdotes of Painting' about the painters of the time of Charles I is drawn from these notes (op. cit. ed. Wornum, i. 287, 293, 324). Another commonplace book of Symonds, extending to 558 pages folio, was lately in the possession of Mr. E. P. Shirley of Ellington Hall, Warwickshire (manuscript No. 135). The latest entry in it is an account of an earthquake which was felt at Wit ham in Suffolk on 8 Sept. 1692 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. pp. 362, 367). Previous to the discovery of this manuscript it was assumed that Symonds had died prior to 1685, as his genealogical collections passed into other hands in that year. It is probable, however, that he died towards the end of 1692 or soon after.
Symonds had an uncle of the same names as himself, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, with whom he has been confounded (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vii. 224, 243), while a cousin of his, also Richard Symonds (1616- 1645), was engaged 'in divers battailes with ye Earle of Essex against ye king,' and fell at Naseby under Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1645.
[Morant's History of Essex, ii. 302-3; Long's Introduction to the Diary published by the Camden Society, as above; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. 1888, i. 324.]
SYMONDS, Sir THOMAS MATTHEW CHARLES (1813–1894), admiral of the fleet, son of Sir William Symonds [q. v.] by his first marriage, was born on 15 July 1813; entered the navy on 25 April 1825, passed his examination in 1831, and was promoted to be lieutenant on 5 Nov. 1832. In May 1833 he was appointed to the Vestal, from which he was removed in September to the Endymion on the Mediterranean station, and from her again to the Britannia. In December 1834 he joined the Rattlesnake with Captain William Hobson, ordered to the East Indies. On 21 Oct. 1837 he was made commander and returned home; and from 27 Aug. 1838 he commanded the Rover Sloop on the North American and West Indian station, till on 22 Feb. 1841 he was promoted to the rank of captain. In May 1846 he was appointed to the Spartan for the Mediterranean, where he remained till 1849. In January 1850 he commissioned the Arethusa, which in 1852 went to the Mediterranean. There she was detained by the imminence of war with Russia. In 1854 Symonds served in the Black Sea, took part in the bombardment of Fort Constantine, and early in 1855 returned home and paid off. He was nominated a C.B. on 5 July 1855, and received the Crimean medal with the Sevastopol clasp and the Medjidie of the third class. On 1 Nov. 1860 he became a rear-admiral, a vice-admiral on 2 April 1866, and a K.C.B. on 13 March 1867. From December 1868 to July 1870 he commanded the Channel squadron, and gained in the service a reputation as a tactician, being the originator of the group formation in the form of a scalene triangle, which replaced the older isosceles group. On 14 July 1871 he became an admiral, and from 1 Nov. 1875 till 1 Nov. 1878 was commander-in-chief at Devonport. On 15 July 1879 he became admiral of the fleet, G.C.B. on 23 April 1880, and died at Torquay on 14 Nov. 1894. He married, on 25 Sept. 1845, Anna Maria, daughter of Captain Edmund Heywood, R.N.
From the date of his retirement he devoted himself to writing pamphlets and letters to the ‘Times’ with a view to forcing on the government the need for a stronger navy.
