James Simmons

James Simmons may refer to:

See also

James Simmons (poet)

James Simmons (1933–2001) was a poet, literary critic and songwriter from Derry, Northern Ireland.

Biography

He was born into a middle-class Protestant family in Derry in 1933 and attended Campbell College in Belfast before moving to the University of Leeds to read for a degree in English. He married Laura Stinson and returned to Northern Ireland to teach at Friends' School Lisburn for five years. His final foreign excursion was a position at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, where he worked for three years. During this time they had five children: Rachel, Sarah, Adam, Helen and Penelope. He returned to Northern Ireland in 1968, accepting a position at the recently opened New University of Ulster in Coleraine, where he remained until his retirement in 1984.

During the early '70s – the bloodiest times of all in NI – he was the inspiration and leading light for The Resistance Cabaret, a satirical revue combining song, poetry and political comment on 'the troubles' and life in general, written and performed by Simmons and some of his students. Arguably, Simmons – whose passion for poetry was equalled only by his yearning to make it accessible to all the people – felt most at home in this setting, connecting with an audience that was moved to talk back.

James Simmons (1741–1807)

James Simmons (22 January 1741 – 22 January 1807) was a newspaper proprietor, bookseller, banker and business entrepreneur. He was a politician who was active in local government in Canterbury and sat in the House of Commons from 1806 to 1807.

Simmons was born in Canterbury, the son of William Simmons, a 'Peruke' or wig maker in the city. He attended the King's School, Canterbury between 1749 and 1755 and then served an apprenticeship as a stationer in London from 1757. He obtained his freedom in 1764. In 1767 he became a freeman of Canterbury by 'patrimony' and went into business as a stationer.

In 1768 Simmons set up a bi-weekly newspaper the Kentish Gazette in rivalry with the long-standing Kentish Post whose new proprietor had refused an offer of partnership. After a four-week local trade war, which also involved two other Canterbury printers and stationers William Flackton and Thomas Smith, Kirkby agreed terms and went into a long-term partnership with Simmons. The firm traded in the High Street and later at the King's Arms Printing Off & Library, St George's Street. As well as newspaper proprietors, they were stationers, bookbinders, printers and publishers, ran a circulating library, and sold patent medicines.