Colonel Sir John Wallace Pringle (1863 - 16 July 1938) was Chief Inspecting Officer of the Railways Inspectorate

Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate

Established in 1840, HM Railway Inspectorate was the British organisation responsible for overseeing safety on Britain's railways and tramways...

 of the Ministry of Transport from 1916 to 1929. As such he was in charge of investigations into a number of serious railway accidents in the UK.

Early career

Pringle became a lieutenant in 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 1883.
As an army officer, Pringle fought in the Third Anglo-Burmese War

Third Anglo-Burmese War

The Third Anglo-Burmese War was a conflict that took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance and insurgency continuing into 1887. It was the final of three wars fought in the 19th century between the Burmese and the British...

, 1885-1886.
In the Uganda railway survey between 1891 and 1892, Pringle was second in command to James Macdonald

James Macdonald (engineer)

James Ronald Leslie Macdonald was a Scottish engineer, explorer and cartographer. He served as a British Army engineer, rose to the rank of Brigadier-General and was knighted...

.
The survey's findings confirmed that the caravan route to the Great Rift Valley

Great Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...

 was the best path for the line, followed by the easiest gradient to be found over the Mau Escarpment

Mau Escarpment

The Mau Escarpment is a steep natural cliff approximately 3,000 m high, running along the western edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.-External links:...

 and down to Lake Victoria. Macdonald and Pringle recommended construction of a three foot six inch gauge railway. They suggested that Kikuyuland would be a suitable place for whites to live, and their civilizing effect would drive out slavery, but the railway was needed to give access to the new colony.
Pringle became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

.
He received the Gill Memorial from this society in 1895 for his work on the Uganda railway survey.
In 1896 he was appointed superintending engineer on the survey and construction of the Hyderabad-Godavari Valley Railway.

Inspecting officer

Pringle had reached the rank of Major in 1900 when he was appointed an inspecting officer in the Board of Trade.
At the start of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 in 1914, he was appointed a deputy director of railway transport with the temporary rank of Colonel.
In 1916 he was confirmed in this rank when he returned to the Board of Trade as Chief Inspecting Officer. When the Ministry of Transport was formed in 1919, he was transferred to the new ministry with his department, retaining his position as Chief Inspecting Officer until his retirement in 1929.

Pringle conducted various accident inquiries, including that into the Sevenoaks derailment

Sevenoaks railway accident

The Sevenoaks railway accident occurred on 24 August 1927 between Dunton Green railway station and Sevenoaks railway station. The Southern Railway's afternoon express from Cannon Street to Deal left London at 5pm, in charge of River Class tank engine No 800 River Cray. Several passengers later...

 of 24 August 1927.
He chaired a committee to investigate the general adoption of automatic train control on British railways, following the adoption of an electro-mechanical system on the Great Western Railway (GWR), reporting in April 1922.
He chaired a second committee on the same subject that reported in 1930, but little was done outside the GWR.
He was Chairman of the Electrification of Railways Advisory Committee, which reported in 1928.

Pringle was made a Companion of the Bath in 1921, and was knighted in 1925.
He died at Cuckfield, Sussex on 16 July 1938 at the age of 75.