Maternal Great Grandparents - Wormald / Simms
Written about Sir John Wormald by "A Correspondent" - publication date and author unknown "The late Sir John
Wormald was a man of singular force and charm of
character. Born into the Wormald family of Yorkshire, his
mother was a Scottish Highlander. He was the eldest of a
large family of children. His time at Edinburgh
University was cut short by the death of his parents and,
being the eldest son, he took their place - which he did
successfully. He went into insurance, from which he was
taken on by Sir William Mather (Mather & Platt) who picked him as the man to sell Fire
Sprinklers in Russia. One who knew him there was
impressed by his mastery of his subject and by the tact,
courtesy and strength which persuaded Russian insurance
companies to promote the use of sprinklers by granting
large rebates. Ultimately John Wormald became Managing
Director of the firm in Manchester. During the First World War he was
Chairman of the Rationing Committee. The Press Bureau
drescribed his work in a statement printed in "The
Times" of January 8th 1919. "The Chairman, Mr.
John Wormald, has given the whole of his time to the
work. For its valuable services, the Committee has been
warmly thanked not only by the Government but also by the
traders whom they rationed. It is generally admitted that
the Committee has furnished a striking example of what
can be effected in administration by appointing one just
man of experience and business ability, and by allowing
him to select his own colleagues. Manufacturers have seen
their necessary applications reduced by half and yet have
cheerfully concurred." [Note: His Knighhood followed his War Service] John Wormald's life had many other interests. In his early days, he worked among the poor of the East End and there earned the life-long friendship of two Bishops of Stepney (Winnington-Ingram and Lang). The village of North Stoke, in Oxfordshire, where he lived for many years, owed everything to him. He found it a slum village, where the common labourer's weekly wage was 12s 6d. He risked his neighbours' displeasure by declaring that no man should work for him for less than a pound. He built a Village Hall and restored the beautiful thirteenth-century church. Wallingford owes to him its model hospital, in projecting which he not only spent his own money lavishly but shamed some others, who had been less ready, into doing their part. He had rare, natural taste and was all his life a collector. Some of His Majesty's Judges, and many others, know the loving care with which he tended and beautified the (pictured) Judge's Lodgings at Oxford. There he displayed his Chinese Porcelain, a small but exquisite collection. His portrait by Laszlo, which hangs in the small dining room, is the portrait of an artist."
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Eleanor Mabel
(Mab) née 
