General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir James Simpson (1792 – 18 April 1868) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer of the 19th century. He commanded the British troops in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

from June to November 1855, following the death of Field Marshal

Lord Raglan Baron Raglan, of Raglan in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 October 1852 for the military commander Lord FitzRoy Somerset, chiefly remembered as commander of the British troops ...

. Simpson's competence in leading troops during the Crimean conflict was criticized by his contemporaries.

Military career

Educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, Simpson was commissioned into the

1st Regiment of Foot Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

on 3 April 1811. He served with his regiment during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

and the

Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by ...

, and then commanded the

29th Regiment of Foot The 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1694. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot to become the 1st Battalion, the Worcestershire Reg ...

in Mauritius and Bengal. In 1839 Simpson married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Dundas, 1st Baronet of Beechwood. She died in 1840. Promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

on 11 November 1851, he became General Officer Commanding the South-West District that same month. In February 1855 he was sent out to the Crimea to act as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to the army commander

. Raglan died on 28 June, and Simpson reluctantly took command of the army, as the senior division commander Sir George Brown had been invalided home the same day as Raglan's death. He resigned on 10 November, and was succeeded by Sir William Codrington. Historians

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' lions led by donkeys "Lions led by donkeys" is a phrase popularly used to describe the British infantry of the First World War and to blame the generals who led them. The contention is that the brave soldiers (lions) were sent to their deaths by incompetent and indiff ...

" on 27 September 1855, in an article published in Neue Oder-Zeitung, No. 457 (1 October 1855), on the British military's strategic mistakes and failings during the fall of Sevastopol, and particularly Simpson's military leadership of the assault on the Great Redan:

The joke making the rounds of the Russian army, that "''L'armée anglaise est une armée de lions, commandée par des ânes''" (The English army is an army of lions led by asses) has been thoroughly vindicated by the assault on Redan.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, James 1792 births 1868 deaths British Army generals British Army personnel of the Crimean War British Army personnel of the Peninsular War Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Knights Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st class People from Badminton, Gloucestershire