He was the fifth son of James Frederick Symonds, a solicitor, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Cleave.
He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School under F. H. Tatham and St John's College, Cambridge.
In 1888 he won the Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta with Edward Buck.
He married Mabel Alloway Askwith, daughter of the Rev.
Henry Askwith, Prebendary of Hereford, in January 1906, and had a family.