Jelinger Cookson Symons (27 August 1809 – 7 April 1860) was an English barrister, school inspector and writer. Life He was born at West Ilsley, Berkshire, on 27 August 1809; his father Jelinger Symons was a cleric known as a naturalist. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1832. In 1835 Symons received a commission from the Home Office to inquire into the state of the hand-loom weavers and manufacturers. He travelled for it in Lancashire and Scotland, and parts of Switzerland. He then held a tithe commissionership, and was a commissioner to inquire into the state of the mining population of the north of England. On 9 June 1843 Symons was called to the bar at the Middle Temple. He went the Oxford circuit, and attended the Gloucester quarter sessions. During this period of his life he was editor of the Law Magazine, up to its union with the Law Review in 1856. In 1846 he was appointed a commissioner to collect information on the state of education in Wales; Lord Lansdowne on 11 February 1848 made him one of Her Majesty’s permanent inspectors of schools, a post he retained through life. He also concerned himself with the establishment of reformatories for juvenile criminals, drawing attention to the "colony" at Mettray in France. Symons died at Malvern House, Great Malvern, on 7 April 1860. Works Symons's works include: A Few Thoughts on Volition and Agency, 1833. Arts and Artizans at Home and Abroad, with Sketches of the Progress of Foreign Manufactures, 1839. Outlines of Popular Economy, 1840. The Attorney and Solicitors Act, 6 & 7 Vict. cap. 73, with an analysis, notes, and index, 1843. Parish Settlements and the Practice of Appeal, 1844; 2nd edit. 1846. Railway Liabilities as they affect Subscribers, Committees, Allottees, and Scripholders, inter se, and Third Parties, 1846. A Plea for Schools, which sets forth the Dearth of Education and the Growth of Crime, 1847. Tactics for the Times, as regards the Condition and Treatment of the Dangerous Classes, 1849. School Economy, a practical treatise on the best mode of establishing and teaching schools, 1852. A Scheme of Direct Taxation, 1853. The Industrial Capacities of South Wales, 1855. Lunar Motion, the whole Argument stated and illustrated by Diagrams, 1856. Sir Robert Peel as a Type of Statesmanship, 1856. Milford, Past, Present, and Future, 1857. William Burke, the author of