[1] Simson was the eldest, at 38 years of age, of all the women who graduated in Masters of Arts, made possible by the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1889.
[1] Together with Margaret Nairn, Elsie Inglis, Frances Melville and Chrystal Macmillan, Simson petitioned the right for five women graduates to vote for the university MP at the general election of 1906 to no avail.
[2] Women did not have the right to vote in elections, but Simson and the others wanted to make this a test case, so went to an appeal in November 1907, which also failed.
[1][3] Margaret Nairn wrote to Simson on 17 November 1908, thanking her for speaking in their cause, and saying that 'your words and Miss Macmillan's will go down in history' and quoted Shakespeare's Love’s Labours Lost.
Whittaker, and Dr Marion Gilchrist were among, hundred-plus guests that attended the event in honour of her work campaigning for women's education.