A West African Chief in Hull

On 25 September 1929, the Hull Daily Mail published an article entitled ‘Interesting Hull Wedding: H.M.V. Coloured Artist and Local Bride’ about the marriage of Ben Simmons and Margaret Wyng that took place at St Nicholas Church, Hessle Common. [1] While the bride was a local woman born in Hull, their wedding was described as, “unique in that the bridegroom is a chief of the Gold Coast of West Africa.” [2]

Ben Simmons was reportedly born in Africa around 1897. He was sent to London when he was 10 years old and supposedly worked in the capital as a blacksmith during his teenage years. It is believed that he served in the First World War before he migrated to the US, however we have been unable to find evidence of his war medals due to the popularity of his name.

In the 1920s, Simmons moved back across the Atlantic to London where he started to make records for “His Master’s Voice” (a company that started as a Gramophone Company on Oxford Street, London in 1921 and grew into the popular music chain HMV). It was around this time that he met the talented Margaret Wyng. Wyng had moved to London and landed a part in the Mississippi Chorus of the Broadway hit ‘Showboat’, which opened at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 3 May 1928. Although the article in the Hull Daily Mail fails to comment upon Wyng’s race, it has been suggested that she had mixed heritage as her father James Emmanuel Wyng was an African American man born in Boston, Massachusetts. [3] The couple were said to have recorded songs together, formed a friendship and then fell in love.

A clipping from the original 1929 Hull Daily Mail newspaper article.

In August 1929, a month before their wedding, Wyng was given the opportunity to record African American-style spirituals for Imperial Records. [4] The following week, Simmons was made aware that he was the Chief of Saltpond, which was located in the Gold Coast, after his Uncle had died and left him a fortune of around £42,000. However, despite their sudden good fortune, the couple decided to settle in Hull. They could not migrate to Africa to live on their estate because of a wound Simmonds received during his time in service, and they both agreed that London was better as a holiday destination rather than a permanent residence.

Sadly, their marriage did not last long as in 1935, Margaret went on to marry James T Newman in Liverpool. What happened to Simmons remains a mystery.

If you have any further information about either of these fascinating characters, please contact us.

​Footnotes

• [1] Hull Daily Mail, 25 September 1929, p. 5
• [2] Ibid.
• [3] Howard Rye, ‘Towards Black British Jazz: Studies in Acculturation, 1860- 1935’ in Jason Toynbee, Catherine Tackley and Mark Doffman (eds.), Black British Jazz: Routes, Ownership and Performance (New York: Routledge, 2016), p.32-33
• [4] Ibid, p. 33