Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simmons, Bartholomew
SIMMONS, BARTHOLOMEW (1804–1850), Irish poet, was born at Kilworth, co. Cork, in 1804, and entered the excise branch of the civil service in 1830. He first appeared as a poet in ‘Bolster's Magazine,’ 1826–8, and soon after began to contribute to ‘Blackwood's Magazine.’ There he printed his poem, ‘Napoleon's Last Look,’ which has found a place in several anthologies. Christopher North made eulogistic reference to his poetic gift in the ‘Noctes Ambrosianæ.’ Simmons contributed to several other periodicals, sometimes under the signature of ‘Harold.’ He died unmarried on 21 July 1850 at his lodgings in Acton Street, Gray's Inn Road, London. His poems were collected and published in London in 1843.
[Gent. Mag. 1850, ii. 558; Madden's Life of Lady Blessington; Noctes Ambrosianæ, ed. Mackenzie; O'Donoghue's Poets of Ireland; Journal of Cork Hist. and Archæolog. Soc. iii. 279–83.]