The second youngest of their twelve children, he was at 15 apprenticed to Amos Burkitt as a tinplate worker, and in his spare time learned all he could of science and engineering.
The prosperity of Simpson's business was checked by a fire (the factory at Southwark was not insured) and it took seven years of hard work before he was sufficiently affluent to marry.
Alfred suffered rheumatism, which was exacerbated by England's cold winters, and he decided to emigrate to South Australia where, it was said, the sun always shone and a bright energetic man could make a fortune.
Simpson was an innovator and introduced labour-saving machinery and new products such as fire-proof safes, bedsteads, japanned ware, colonial ovens and gas stoves.
Alfred Simpson (29 August 1805 – 23 September 1891) married Sarah Neighbour ( – 30 December 1874) on 21 June 1838, lived in Kent Town, then Upper Kensington from c.1880.