John Simms (clergyman)


John Morrow Simms was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.
Born in Newtownards, Simms studied at the Belfast Academy, the Coleraine Academical Institution, Queen's University, Belfast, the University of Edinburgh and Leipzig University. In 1882, he was ordained as a Presbyterian Church in Ireland clergyman, becoming a British Army chaplain in 1887. He was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party at the July 1922 North Down by-election, and when the seat was abolished later in the year, won a seat in Down, serving until the 1931 UK general election. From 1914 to 1920, he was Principal Chaplain to the Forces, and held the rank of Major-General. He subsequently became Honorary Chaplain to George V of the United Kingdom.