John Morrow Simms was a unionist politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

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Born in Newtownards

Newtownards

Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...

, Simms studied at the Old Academy, Belfast, the Coleraine Academical Institution

Coleraine Academical Institution

Coleraine Academical Institution , styled locally as Coleraine Inst, is a voluntary grammar school for boys, situated in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland....

, Queen's University, Belfast, the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

 and Leipzig University. In 1882, he was ordained as a Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

 clergyman, becoming a British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 in 1887. He was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party

Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

 at the North Down by-election, July 1922, and when the seat was abolished later in the year, won a seat in Down

Down (UK Parliament constituency)

Down was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland. It was a two member constituency and existed in two periods, 1801-1885 and 1922-1950.-Boundaries:1801-1885: The whole of County Down, excluding the Boroughs of Downpatrick and Newry....

, serving until the 1931 UK general election. From 1914 to 1920, he was Principal Chaplain to the Forces, and held the rank of Major-General. He subsequently became Honorary Chaplain to George V of the United Kingdom

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

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