He was schoolmaster of Perth Grammar School between 1550 and 1560, and embraced the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation after reading The Book of the Monarchie by Sir David Lindsay.
[2] On 2 November 1584 a summons was issued, in compliance with the Uniformity Act passed by the parliament in August, requiring all ministers south of the Firth of Forth to appear before Patrick Adamson, archbishop of St Andrews, and to sign the obligation prescribed by the act, binding them to acknowledge the spiritual jurisdiction of the crown.
[1][2] On 15 December 1575 Simson, known as a Latinist and grammarian, was appointed member of a committee to consider the best method of teaching Latin in the Scottish schools.
The privy council, acting on their report, issued on 20 December 1593, directed that the grammars in use should be superseded by two books of Latin etymology, one simple and one more advanced, which had been revised by the committee.
[1] Internet Archive website, Scottish Church History Society, chapter on The levitical family of Simson; IV Final Records, pages 118-139 Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed.