Sir John Simeon, 3rd Baronet

Sir John Simeon, 3rd Baronet (5 February 1815 on the Isle of Wight – 21 May 1870 in Freiburg) was a British politician and naval officer.[1]

John Simeon 3rd Baronet
Sir John Simeon, as photographed shortly before his death in 1870 by Julia Margaret Cameron
Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight
In office 1865 – 1870
Preceded by	William à Court-Holmes
Succeeded by	Edward Dawes
In office 1847 – 1851
Preceded by	Charles Cavendish Clifford
Succeeded by	Alexander Baillie-Cochrane
Personal details
Born	5 February 1815 Isle of Wight, England
Died	21 May 1870 (aged 55) Freiburg, Baden
Spouse(s)	Jane Maria Baker ​ ​ (m. 1840; died 1860)​ Catherine Dorothea Colville ​ ​ (m. 1861)​
Relations	Charles Simeon (brother) Charles Colville, 1st Viscount Colville of Culross (brother-in-law)
Parents	Richard Simeon (father)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford (BA)
Occupation	Politician, naval officer

Biography

Simeon was born on the Isle of Wight in 1815. He was the eldest son of Sir Richard Simeon, 2nd Baronet and his wife Louisa Edith Barrington, the oldest daughter of Sir Fitzwilliam Barrington, 10th Baronet. He received his education at Christ Church, Oxford, from where he graduated with a BA in 1837.[2]

His first marriage was on 26 November 1840 to Jane Maria Baker, daughter of Sir Frederick Francis Baker, 2nd Baronet. Sir John Simeon, 4th Baronet and Sir Edmund Charles Simeon, 5th Baronet were sons from this marriage. His wife died in 1860, and he remarried in the following year to the Honourable Catherine Dorothea Colville, a sister of Charles Colville, 1st Viscount Colville of Culross.[2]

Career

He initially pursued a naval career before being returned for the Isle of Wight in 1847 as a Liberal Member of Parliament. On 27 March 1848, he became a member of the Canterbury Association and immediately joined the management committee. The object was to create an Anglican settlement in New Zealand, which happened with the Canterbury region, with Christchurch as its capital. Together with Lord Lyttelton, Lord Richard Cavendish and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, he guaranteed £15,000 to the Canterbury Association in April 1850, which saved it from financial collapse.[2]

In 1851 he converted to Catholicism, and resigned his seat in Parliament through appointment as Steward of the Manor of Northstead on 5 May 1851, "out of a delicate instinct of honour towards those who had elected him while he was a member of the Anglican Church — believing that he had no right to suppose them to be indifferent to the change he had made."[3]

He resigned from the Canterbury Association shortly afterwards on 15 May 1851.[2] He was elected again for the same constituency in 1865, for a time serving as the only Roman Catholic Member of Parliament from an English constituency.[1] His last political act, on 8 April 1870, was to speak in Parliament against a measure proposed by Charles Newdigate Newdegate for the state inspection of convents, despite being seriously ill at the time. Bursting a blood-vessel in his throat, he set off on a journey to Switzerland to recover his health but died en route while in Freiburg, aged 55.

Legacy

Simeon Street in Ryde, Isle of Wight, is named after him, as well as the Simeon Arms Public House in the same street. Simeon Quay in Lyttelton, New Zealand is named for the Simeon family.[2] Simeon Street in the Christchurch suburb of Spreydon is named for his brother Charles.[4]

Coat of arms of Sir John Simeon, 3rd Baronet

Crest A fox passant-reguardant Proper in the mouth a trefoil slipped Vert. Escutcheon Per fess Sable and Or a pale counterchanged in chief an ermine spot of the first between two trefoils slipped of the second and in base a like trefoil between two like ermine spots. Supporters Dexter a fox reguardant Proper in the mouth a trefoil slipped Vert, sinister a lion Gules ducally crowned Or. Motto Serviendo; Nec Temere Nec Timide [5]

References

1. "Sir John Simeon Correspondence – An inventory of his correspondence at Syracuse University". Syracuse University. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
2. Blain, Rev. Michael (2007). The Canterbury Association (1848–1852): A Study of Its Members’ Connections (PDF). Christchurch: Project Canterbury. pp. 74–75. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
3. "The Last Days of Sir John Simeon", The Month: A Magazine and Review new series, vol. II (XIII), July to December 1870, pp. 481–484.
4. Harper, Margaret. "Christchurch Street Names S" (PDF). Christchurch City Libraries. p. 66. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
5. Burke's Peerage. 1949.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir John Simeon