James Simpson (British Army officer)

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Sir

James Simpson
Born1792 (1792)
Badminton House, Gloucestershire
Died18 April 1868 (aged 75–76)
Crimea, Russian Empire
Buried
Badminton, Gloucestershire
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1811–1855
RankGeneral
Commands heldBritish Troops in the Crimea
South-West District
29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot
Battles/warsPeninsular War
Crimean War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France)
Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy (Sardinia)
Order of the Medjidie, First Class (Ottoman Empire)

GCB (1792 – 18 April 1868) was a British Army officer of the 19th century. He commanded the British troops in the Crimea from June to November 1855, following the death of Field Marshal Lord Raglan. Simpson's competence in leading troops during the Crimean conflict was criticized by his contemporaries.[1]

Military career

Educated at the

29th Regiment of Foot in Mauritius and Bengal.[2]

In 1839 Simpson married Elizabeth, daughter of

major general on 11 November 1851, he became General Officer Commanding the South-West District that same month.[2]

In February 1855 he was sent out to the Crimea to act as chief of staff to the army commander Lord Raglan. 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.[2] He resigned on 10 November, and was succeeded by Sir William Codrington.[2]

Historians Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels used the phrase "lions led by donkeys" 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.[1]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 085315435X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25583. Retrieved 2 December 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir George D'Aguilar
 GOC South-West District
1852–1855 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Colonel of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot
1863–1868 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Colonel of the 87th (Royal Irish
Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot
1855–1863 		Succeeded by
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