 When his much loved uncle Heinrich Simon was forced to seek political refuge in Switzerland, Henry followed him and it was here that he went on to gain his Engineering Diploma from Zurich Technical Polytechnical School.Armed solely with this and a 'surcharge of mental energy and business initiative', Henry moved to Manchester where he would make a lasting name for himself.In 1874 Simon married Mary Jane Lane of Melbourne, Australia who bore him a son, Ingo in 1875 before her death in 1876.