THE LATE MR. JELINGER SYMONS.
JELINGER COORSON SYMONS, ELM., late Inspector of Schools, whose lamented death took place at Great Malvern on the 7th of April, was the son of a beneficed clergyman in Buckinghamshire, and was born at West Daley in Berkshire, 1809. At a very early age, he exhibited talents which created hopes his subsequent career was not doomed to disappoint, and when but seventeen years of age, while other youths of his standing were amusing their leisure hours in smoking and billiard- playing, he commenced a life to be devoted to the good of his fellow- creatures and amelioration of every evil coming under his notice, by his first effort in literature, in a pamphlet on the horrors and disadvantages of Colonial Slavery. He graduated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1831, where, however, he did not distinguish himself as highly as his talents and genius had raised expectations that he would, having taken only a degree as B.A. ; but this may partly be attributed to a general delicacy of health, which, though at this period was not that of a decided invalid, still made him at times unequal to the intense and persevering application necessary for obtaining high honours. Subsequent to leaving college, he resided much abroad, where he became so great a proficient in the French and German languages that, at the age of twenty-five, he was intruated by the Home Government with a commission of inquiry into the state of the hand-loom weavers and manufactures of Lancashire, and for their intended im- provement was sent into Switzerland, where he obtained much valuable and interesting information, subsequently published in a volume entitled Arts and Artisans at Home and Abroad. He continued to reside for some years on the continent till the excitement of the political world at home roused his energy, and he determined to present himself as a can- didate for Stroud, and without possessing either friends or influence, trusting to the depth and sincerity of his feeling of patriotism for con- veying that force along with it which has sometimes, however rarely, carried the day against formidable odds, he went to the poll, but finally withdrew on discovering that his return would unseat one member of his own party, and, therefore, to have persisted in it would merely have been personal gratification at the expense of political honesty. His next appearance in public life was as Tithe Commissioner, an appointment he held for some time. This was followed by his being nominated Commissioner of Inquiry into the moral and educated state of the mining districts of Yorkshire and Cum- berland, when he electrified Parliament and Great Britain at large by the discovery that, while we were yearly sending missionaries to almost unknown parts of the world, numbers of children, of twelve years of age and upwards, in our own country, had never even heard the name of our Saviour! and on their distressing moral condition he published a re- port in the Blue-book, an account of which can also be found in his very valuable statistical work, entitled Facts and Figures. In 1843, he was called to the bar, and entered at the Middle Temple. In 1846, he was appointed one of the three Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of education in Wales, and his patron, the Marquis of Lansdowne, was so impressed with his high capabilities for improving the people shown in his reports, that, in 1848, he conferred on him the permanent office of Her Majesty's Inspector of Workhouse Schools, which he held to the day of his death. During the last twenty-one years of his life, the principal aim of his existence had been the improvement of the moral and physical condition of the poor, lecturing in various places on this important topic. But, though to the benefit of his poorer fellow creatures, he devoted his principal attention, he did not neglect other branches of utility, and every species of polite literature was so congenial to his tastes, that he was the president of a literary and antiquarian society in one city, and an active member of the council of the Cambrian .Archaeological Association. Besides the works already mentioned, he was the author of innumerable pamphlets and other publications. "Tactics for the Times "; "Parish Settlements," an invaluable book to clergymen, " William Smith's leading Cases," and other law works ; " Sir Robert Peel as a Type of Statesmanship " ; and also a most interesting Essay on the much- disputed authorship of Junius, whom he is convinced was William Burke, cousin of the celebrated orator, and who at the time of his death had just completed a volume to 'be entitled, "Rough Types of English Life," which is now in the press and will be shortly given to the public.
For some time previous to his death, an increasing delicacy of health prevented him lecturing, and the last occasion of his addressing the public was at a meeting of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to animals, of which he was a member ; but to the last his ener- gies induced him to do far more than his strength would permit, and it is well known by all his medical attendants that his days were much shortened by his indefatigable exertions in not only doing his duty, but far exceeding what that required, when the good of his fellow men was in the balance with his own sufferings. He was descended from the old family of Fitz-Simon who came over with William the Conqueror, and from the Counts of Avranohes in Normandy ; one of his ancestors was an original member, at the first institution of the illustrious Order of the Garter. Mr. Symons married in 1846, Angelina, youngest daughter of Mr. Edward Kendall, of Austrey, in Warwickshire, and late of Dan-y-Part, in Breconshire, of which county he was'formerly High Sheriff; by this lady Mr. Symons has left two sons who, for the good of mankind, it may be hoped, will inherit the abilities, genius, and uncommon energy of the subject of this little memoir.
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