15 Facts About Lintorn Simmons

Lintorn Simmons 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.

Lintorn Simmons went on to be Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy and subsequently Governor of the Academy.

Lintorn Simmons was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 4 December 1837 and promoted to lieutenant on 15 October 1839.

Lintorn Simmons was then deployed to Canada where he carried out survey work on the disputed border with the United States of America.

Lintorn Simmons 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.

Lintorn Simmons investigated many railway accidents, perhaps the most famous of which was the Dee Bridge disaster in 1847.

Lintorn Simmons's report blamed the cast iron girders for the accident, which killed five passengers and crew.

The British Ambassador, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, took up Lintorn Simmons' offer of his services, requesting that he report on Turkish defences and their ability to resist a Russian advance.

Lintorn Simmons 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 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.

Lintorn Simmons became Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers with promotion to lieutenant general on 27 August 1872.

Lintorn Simmons was appointed a Commissioner to enquire into the Causes of Accidents on Railways in June 1874.

Lintorn 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.

Lintorn Simmons became honorary colonel of the 1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteers, Royal Engineers and subsequently of the 1st Devonshire and Somersetshire Royal Engineers and after that of the 1st Middlesex Royal Engineers as well as honorary colonel of the Engineer and Railway Volunteer Staff Corps.

Lintorn Simmons 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.