John Hope Simpson

Who was John Hope Simpson?

Sir John Hope-Simpson KBE CIE OBJ was a British Liberal politician who served as a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom and later in the Government of the Colony of Newfoundland.

Born in West Derby, Hope-Simpson held numerous governmental posts before his retirement in 1916, having been acting chief commander of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Hope-Simpson was in the Indian Civil Service between 1897 and 1916. He was Private Secretary to the Ministry of Labour in 1917. John was elected at the 1922 general election as Member of Parliament for the previously Conservative-held constituency of Taunton in Somerset.

He was re-elected in 1923 general election, but was defeated at the 1924 general election. He did not stand for Parliament again. In 1925 he was posted to Greece for the British Army, where he was the vice-president for the Refugee Settlement Committee. He authored the Hope Simpson Report in 1930, following the widespread 1929 Palestine riots. He is known for his work on the question of refugees.

In 1931 he became director-general of the Chinese National Government Flood Relief Commission, where in 1934 he commented on the Japanese bombing of a flood refugee camp.