[5] Simpson trained in linen manufacturing with Messrs. Alexander Easson and Charles Clark at the Dens Works in Dundee.

Simpson’s increasing prosperity by that time enabled him to move to Seafield House in fashionable Broughty Ferry.

Simpson supported artistic talent and befriended painters such as William MacTaggart, George Paul Chalmers, W. Q. Orchardson, Sam Bough, James Cassie and Alexander Fraser.

"No Simpson landscape was usually considered complete without the interpolation of a human or animal motif, from boys fishing to cattle grazing.

"[7] In 1867, Simpson was appointed convener of the committee which organised an art exhibition during the visit of the British Association to Dundee.