John Lintorn Arabin Simmons
Encyclopedia
Field Marshal
Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons GCB
GCMG
(12 February 1821 – 14 February 1903), was a British
soldier.
of Langford
in Somerset
. From the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers
in 1837 and completed the young officer's course at the Royal Engineer Establishment
in Chatham.
After serving in the British North American colonies in Canada
from 1839 to 1845, he was promoted to Captain upon his return to England. He was appointed Inspector of Railways in 1847 and then Secretary of the Railways Commission in 1850. He investigated many railway accidents, perhaps the most famous of which was the Dee bridge disaster
in 1847. His report blamed the cast iron
girders for the accident, which killed five passengers and crew. The accident was highly significant at the time because it had been designed by Robert Stephenson
. Many other bridges built to the same design had to be demolished and replaced. In 1851 he became the first Secretary of the Railway Department under the Board of Trade
.
In 1853, whilst on leave from his role with the Board of Trade, he was in Constantinople
when Turkey
declared war on Russia
. The British Ambassador took up Simmons’ offer of his services, requesting that he report on Turkish defences and their ability to resist a Russian advance. Upon expiry of his "leave", he resigned his post with the Board of Trade, enabling him to remain in Turkey.
Serving firstly as British Military Representative to the Omar Pasha
, he was later confirmed as British Commissioner with the Turkish Army
, in the local rank of Lieutenant Colonel, seeing out the Crimean War
(1854–56) in this role.
Serving in the Foreign Office as Consul General in Warsaw
, he returned to England at the end of 1860 and re-joined the Royal Engineers firstly as Commanding Royal Engineer at Aldershot
and later as Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment
in Chatham.
Promoted to Major General in 1868, he became Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy in March 1869, soon to be appointed Governor. Created KCB
in June 1869, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers
in 1872.
He held the post of Inspector General of Fortifications from 1875 to 1880 and was promoted to General in 1877 and, the next year, he was given the GCB
.
As Governor of Malta from 1884 to 1888, he oversaw significant constitutional and social changes on the island. Awarded the GCMG in 1887, he left Malta
when, at the age of 67, he retired from the army. The Foreign Office continued to utilise his services and in 1889 he went to Rome as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Pope Leo XIII
.
In 1890 he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of Medjidieh by the Sultan of Turkey
, and was promoted to Field Marshal
of the British Army.
He retired to Hawley
, near Blackwater, and died on 14 February 1903. He is buried in the Church of St John the Baptist, Churchill
near to his house - Over Langford Manor
.
He was the maternal grandfather of Rotha Lintorn-Orman
, the leader of the British Fascists
.
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(12 February 1821 – 14 February 1903), was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
soldier.
Military career
Simmons was the fifth son of Captain Thomas Frederick Simmons, Royal ArtilleryRoyal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
of Langford
Lower Langford
Lower Langford is a village within the civil parish of Churchill in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It is located on the western edge of the Mendip Hills about east of Weston-super-Mare. It was a village built around estate of Sidney Hill who was the original inhabitant of the...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. From the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
in 1837 and completed the young officer's course at the Royal Engineer Establishment
Royal School of Military Engineering
The Royal School of Military Engineering is the main training establishment for the British Army's Royal Engineers. After they have successfully completed their Phase 1 - Basic Soldier Training, members of the Corps of Royal Engineers attend 3 RSME, at Minley for Phase 2a - Combat Engineering...
in Chatham.
After serving in the British North American colonies in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
from 1839 to 1845, he was promoted to Captain upon his return to England. He was appointed Inspector of Railways in 1847 and then Secretary of the Railways Commission in 1850. He investigated many railway accidents, perhaps the most famous of which was the Dee bridge disaster
Dee bridge disaster
The Dee bridge disaster was a rail accident that occurred on 24 May 1847 in Chester with five fatalities.A new bridge across the River Dee was needed for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, a project planned in the 1840s for the expanding British railway system. It was built using cast iron girders,...
in 1847. His report blamed the cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
girders for the accident, which killed five passengers and crew. The accident was highly significant at the time because it had been designed by Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
. Many other bridges built to the same design had to be demolished and replaced. In 1851 he became the first Secretary of the Railway Department under the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
.
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
when Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
declared war on Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The British Ambassador took up Simmons’ offer of his services, requesting that he report on Turkish defences and their ability to resist a Russian advance. Upon expiry of his "leave", he resigned his post with the Board of Trade, enabling him to remain in Turkey.
Serving firstly as British Military Representative to the Omar Pasha
Omar Pasha
Omar Pasha Latas was a Ottoman general and governor. He was a Serb convert to Islam, who managed to quickly climb in Ottoman ranks, crush several rebellions throughout the Empire and defeat Russia the Crimean War.-Early life:...
, he was later confirmed as British Commissioner with the Turkish Army
Turkish Army
The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire...
, in the local rank of Lieutenant Colonel, seeing out the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1854–56) in this role.
Serving in the Foreign Office as Consul General in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, he returned to England at the end of 1860 and re-joined the Royal Engineers firstly as Commanding Royal Engineer at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
and later as Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment
Royal School of Military Engineering
The Royal School of Military Engineering is the main training establishment for the British Army's Royal Engineers. After they have successfully completed their Phase 1 - Basic Soldier Training, members of the Corps of Royal Engineers attend 3 RSME, at Minley for Phase 2a - Combat Engineering...
in Chatham.
Promoted to Major General in 1868, he became Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy in March 1869, soon to be appointed Governor. Created KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in June 1869, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
in 1872.
He held the post of Inspector General of Fortifications from 1875 to 1880 and was promoted to General in 1877 and, the next year, he was given the GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
.
As Governor of Malta from 1884 to 1888, he oversaw significant constitutional and social changes on the island. Awarded the GCMG in 1887, he left Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
when, at the age of 67, he retired from the army. The Foreign Office continued to utilise his services and in 1889 he went to Rome as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
.
In 1890 he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of Medjidieh by the Sultan of Turkey
Abdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
, and was promoted to Field Marshal
Field Marshal (UK)
Field Marshal is the highest military rank of the British Army. It ranks immediately above the rank of General and is the Army equivalent of an Admiral of the Fleet and a Marshal of the Royal Air Force....
of the British Army.
He retired to Hawley
Hawley, Hampshire
Hawley is a village in the civil parish of Blackwater and Hawley in the Hart district of northeastern Hampshire, England.The village is continguous with the small town of Blackwater. It is on the western edge of the Blackwater Valley conurbation, about north of central Farnborough, Hampshire,...
, near Blackwater, and died on 14 February 1903. He is buried in the Church of St John the Baptist, Churchill
Church of St John the Baptist, Churchill
The Church of St John the Baptist in Churchill, Somerset, England, was largely built around 1360 and is a Grade I listed building.There was a Norman chapel on this site in 1180, from which the nave has survived into the present church....
near to his house - Over Langford Manor
Over Langford Manor
Over Langford Manor, also known as The Old Courthouse is a Grade II listed building, in Upper Langford, North Somerset, England....
.
He was the maternal grandfather of Rotha Lintorn-Orman
Rotha Lintorn-Orman
-Early life:Born as Rotha Beryl Orman in Kensington London, she was the daughter of Charles Edward Orman, a Major from the Essex Regiment, and her maternal grandfather was Field Marshal Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons...
, the leader of the British Fascists
British Fascists
The British Fascists were the first avowedly fascist organisation in the United Kingdom. William Joyce, Neil Francis Hawkins, Maxwell Knight and Arnold Leese were amongst those to have passed through the movement as members and activists.-Early years:...
.