Sir John Simeon, 3rd Baronet was a British politician and naval officer
Background
Simeon was born on the Isle of Wight in 1815. He was the eldest son of Sir Richard Simeon, 2nd Baronet and his wife Louisa Edith Barrington, the oldest daughter of Sir Fitzwilliam Barrington, 10th Baronet. His first marriage was on 26 November 1840 to Jane Maria Baker, daughter of Sir Frederick Francis Baker, 2nd Baronet.
Education
He received his education at Christ Church, Oxford, from where he graduated with a Bachelor in 1837.
Career
Sir John Simeon, 4th Baronet and Sir Edmund Charles Simeon, 5th Baronet were sons from this marriage. The object was to create an Anglican settlement in New Zealand, which happened with the Canterbury Region, with Christchurch as its capital. Together with Lord Lyttelton, Lord Richard Cavendish and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, he guaranteed ₤15,000 to the Canterbury Association in April 1850, which saved it from financial collapse.
He resigned from the Canterbury Association shortly afterwards on 15 May 1851.
His last political act, on 8 April 1870, was to speak in Parliament against a measure proposed by Charles Newdigate Newdegate for the state inspection of convents, despite being seriously ill at the time. Bursting a blood-vessel in his throat, he set off on a journey to Switzerland to recover his health but died en route while in Freiburg.
Simeon Quay in Lyttelton, New Zealand is named for the Simeon family.
Membership
15th United Kingdom Parliament. 19th United Kingdom Parliament. 20th United Kingdom Parliament]
He initially pursued a naval career before being returned for the Isle of Wight in 1847 as a Liberal Member of Parliament.
On 27 March 1848, he became a member of the Canterbury Association and immediately joined the management committee.
He was elected again for the same constituency in 1865, for a time serving as the only Roman Catholic Member of Parliament from an English constituency.