John Wallace Pringle

Colonel Sir John Wallace Pringle, CB, FRGS (23 May 1863 – 16 July 1938) was a British engineer who was Chief Inspecting Officer of the Railways Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport from 1916 to 1929. As such he was in charge of investigations into a number of serious railway accidents in the UK.

Early life Pringle was born in Madras, the son of a Scottish father, General George Pringle, and English mother, Octavia Catherine Cother.

Early career

Pringle was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 14 February 1883. Pringle became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. as he was appointed an inspecting officer of railways in the Board of Trade.

At the start of World War I in 1914, he was appointed a deputy director of railway transport with the temporary rank of colonel. In 1916 he was confirmed in this rank when he returned to the Board of Trade as Chief Inspecting Officer. When the Ministry of Transport was formed in 1919, he was transferred to the new ministry with his department, retaining his position as Chief Inspecting Officer until his retirement in 1929.