Jelinger Cookson Symons (27 August 1809 – 7 April 1860) was an English barrister, school inspector and writer.

Life

He was born at

West Ilsley West Ilsley is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was 332. Location and amenities It is situated in West Berkshire, north of Newbury on the Berkshire Downs. The companion village ...

, Berkshire, on 27 August 1809; his father Jelinger Symons was a cleric known as a naturalist. He was educated at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

, where he graduated B.A. in 1832. In 1835 Symons received a commission from the Home Office to inquire into the state of the

hand-loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...

weavers and manufacturers. He travelled for it in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and Scotland, and parts of Switzerland. He then held a tithe commissionership, and was a commissioner to inquire into the state of the mining population of the north of England. On 9 June 1843 Symons was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

. He went the

Oxford circuit The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

, and attended the Gloucester quarter sessions. During this period of his life he was editor of the ''Law Magazine'', up to its union with the ''Law Review'' in 1856. In 1846 he was appointed a commissioner to collect information on the state of

education in Wales This article provides an overview of education in Wales from early childhood to university and adult skills. Largely state funded and free-at-the-point-of-use at a primary and secondary level, education is compulsory for children in Wales aged f ...

; Lord Lansdowne on 11 February 1848 made him one of Her Majesty’s permanent inspectors of schools, a post he retained through life. He also concerned himself with the establishment of reformatories for juvenile criminals, drawing attention to the "colony" at

Mettray Mettray () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. The Mettray Penal Colony was opened there in 1839. Population The inhabitants are called ''Mettrayens''. See also *Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department The fo ...

in France. Symons died at Malvern House,

Great Malvern Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and is ...

, on 7 April 1860.

Works

Symons's works include: * ''A Few Thoughts on Volition and Agency'', 1833. * ''Arts and Artizans at Home and Abroad, with Sketches of the Progress of Foreign Manufactures'', 1839. * ''Outlines of Popular Economy'', 1840. * ''The Attorney and Solicitors Act'', 6 & 7 Vict. cap. 73, with an analysis, notes, and index, 1843. * ''Parish Settlements and the Practice of Appeal'', 1844; 2nd edit. 1846. * ''Railway Liabilities as they affect Subscribers, Committees, Allottees, and Scripholders, inter se, and Third Parties'', 1846. * ''A Plea for Schools, which sets forth the Dearth of Education and the Growth of Crime'', 1847. * ''Tactics for the Times, as regards the Condition and Treatment of the Dangerous Classes'', 1849. * ''School Economy'', a practical treatise on the best mode of establishing and teaching schools, 1852. * ''A Scheme of Direct Taxation'', 1853. * ''The Industrial Capacities of South Wales'', 1855. * ''Lunar Motion, the whole Argument stated and illustrated by Diagrams'', 1856. * ''Sir Robert Peel as a Type of Statesmanship'', 1856. * ''Milford, Past, Present, and Future'', 1857. * ''William Burke, the author of "Junius"'', 1859. * ''Rough Types of English Life'', 1860. With Richard Griffiths Welford and others, Symons published ''Reports of Cases in the Law of Real Property and Conveyancing argued and determined in all the Courts of Law and Equity'', 1846.

Family

Symons married in 1845 Angelina, daughter of Edward Kendall. They had Jelinger Edward, born in 1847, and other children.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Jelinger Cookson 1809 births 1860 deaths English barristers English magazine editors English writers 19th-century journalists English male journalists 19th-century English male writers 19th-century English lawyers