He was born at Reading, Berkshire, in 1759 and baptised at St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year.

[2] As an undergraduate at King's from 1779, brought up in the high church tradition, he read The Whole Duty of Man and then a work by Thomas Wilson on the sacrament, and taking communion at Easter experienced a Christian conversion.

He began his ministry as deputy to Christopher Atkinson (1754–1795) at St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge.

[9] His memorial by Humphrey Hopper in Holy Trinity, Cambridge, was described by architectural critic Nikolaus Pevsner as an "epitaph in Gothic forms.

[6] According to the historian Thomas Macaulay, Simeon's "authority and influence … extended from Cambridge to the most remote corners of England ... his real sway in the Church was far greater than that of any primate.

"[12] In 1792, Simeon read An Essay on the Composition of a Sermon by the French Reformed minister Jean Claude.

[6] It arose from the bequest of John Thornton, who died in 1813, of ten advowsons, left to a trust, of which Simeon was one of the trustees.