1880 WAR OFFICE-LONDON Field Marshal John Linton Simmons - General Martin Dillon

Description

1880 WAR OFFICE-LONDON Field Marshal John Linton Simmons - General Martin Dillon
This product data sheet is originally written in English.
1880 WAR OFFICE-LONDON Field Marshal John Linton Simmons to General Martin Dillon, confirming he will attend a meeting at Marlborough House on Saturday.
Field Marshal Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons GCB GCMG (12 February 1821 – 14 February 1903) was a British Army officer. Early in his career he served as Inspector of Railways, Secretary of the Railways Commission and then Secretary of the Railway Department under the Board of Trade. He went on to be British Commissioner with the Turkish Army providing advice to General Omar Pasha during the Crimean War. He assisted the Turks at the defence of Silistra and then led them at the Battle of Giurgevo before landing with them at the Battle of Eupatoria and remaining with them for the Siege of Sevastopol. After that he became British Consul in Warsaw, Commander, Royal Engineers at Aldershot and then Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment in Chatham. He went on to be Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy and subsequently Governor of the Academy. His last appointments were as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers, as Inspector General of Fortifications and then as Governor of Malta.
Military career
Born the fifth son of Captain Thomas Frederick Simmons, RA and Mary Simmons (née Perry), Simmons was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 4 December 1837 and promoted to lieutenant on 15 October 1839.[2] He was then deployed to Canada where he carried out survey work on the disputed border with the United States of America.
Returning to the United Kingdom in 1845, Simmons became an instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich with promotion to second captain on 9 November 1846.[3] He was appointed Inspector of Railways in 1847, Secretary of the Railways Commission in 1850 and Secretary of the Railway Department under the Board of Trade in 1851. 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.
n 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, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, took up Simmons' offer of his services, requesting that he report on Turkish defences and their ability to resist a Russian advance.[2] Promoted to captain on 17 February 1854,[5] he became British Commissioner with the Turkish Army providing advice to General Omar Pasha as the Crimean War started.[2] He assisted the Turks at the defence of Silistra in June 1854 and then led them at the Battle of Giurgevo in July 1854; having been promoted to brevet major on 12 July 1854[6] and to brevet lieutenant colonel on 14 July 1854, he landed with the Turks at the Battle of Eupatoria in February 1855 and remained with them for the Siege of Sevastopol in the Summer of 1855.
Promoted to brevet colonel on 12 December 1857[7] Simmons became British Consul in Warsaw in February 1858,[8] Commander, Royal Engineers at Aldershot in 1860 and Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment in Chatham in 1865.[2] Promoted to major general on 6 March 1868,[9][10] he became Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy in March 1869 and subsequently Governor of the Academy.[2] He became Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers[11] with promotion to lieutenant general on 27 August 1872.[12] He was also appointed a Commissioner to enquire into the Causes of Accidents on Railways in June 1874.
He devoted much attention to the efficiency of the British army and in 1874-75 he was a member of the Royal Commission on Railway Accidents, a position for which his previous experience as Inspector of Railways made him well suited. He remained at Woolwich until 1875 and was then appointed Inspector General of Fortifications, a post which he held for five years. At the same time he was a member of the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions abroad and was also an active member of the Commission on the Organisation of the Army.
In 1878, while still within the War Office, he acted as military adviser to the Earl of Beaconsfield and the Marquess of Salisbury, British representatives at an International Congress to revise the treaty which had been drawn up following the end of the Russo-Turkish war. Sir Lintorn Simmons had been promoted to General in 1877 and at the conclusion of the Congress he was given the GCB.
His period of Service as Inspector General of Fortifications ended in 1880 and in 1884 he was appointed Governor of Malta. While in this post he saw through a number of major constitutional and social changes on the island and in 1887 was given the GCMG. He remained in Malta until 1888 when, at the age of 67, he retired from the army
Simmons went on to be Inspector General of Fortifications in 1875, and having been promoted to full general on 1 October 1877, he was invited to join a Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the condition and sufficiency of the means provided for the defence of the more important seaports within the Colonial Possessions. In June 1884 he became Governor of Malta, where he oversaw significant constitutional and social changes on the island.[16] After he retired in September 1888,[17] 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.[18] He also became honorary colonel of the 1st Gloucestershire (the Western Counties) Royal Engineers[19] and subsequently of the 1st Devonshire and Somersetshire Royal Engineers[20] and after that of the 1st Middlesex Royal Engineers[21] as well as honorary colonel of the Engineer and Railway Volunteer Staff Corps.
Promoted to field marshal on 21 May 1890, Simmons retired to Hawley House at Hawley in Hampshire where he died on 14 February 1903.[24] He is buried at the Church of St John the Baptist, Churchill in Somerset.
In 1846 Simmons married his cousin, Ellen Lintorn Simmons; they had one daughter, Eleanor.[2] Following the death of his first wife, he married Blanche Weston in 1856.[2] They had one daughter Blanche
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1880 WAR OFFICE-LONDON Field Marshal John Linton Simmons to General Martin Dillon, confirming he will attend a meeting at Marlborough House on Saturday. Field Marshal Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons GCB GCMG (12 February 1821 – 14 February 1903) was a British Army officer. Early in his career he served as Inspector of Railways, Secretary of the Railways Commission and then Secretary of the Railway Department under the Board of Trade. He went on to be British Commissioner with the Turkish Army providing advice to General Omar Pasha during the Crimean War. He assisted the Turks at the defence of Silistra and then led them at the Battle of Giurgevo before landing with them at the Battle of Eupatoria and remaining with them for the Siege of Sevastopol. After that he became British Consul in W
Type
Military
EAN
Does Not apply
Country
England
Estate or House name
War Office
England County
Middlesex
City/Town/Village/Place
London
Family Surname
Simmons
Theme
Military
Era
1871-1880
Document Type
Manuscript Letter
Year of Issue
1880