He attended local state schools and received his secondary education at Ballarat and Stawell before working on the family farm.
During World War I he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (30 June 1915), serving on the Western Front in the 5th Battalion from March 1916.
After the war he returned to farming and on 1 March 1924 married nurse Barbara Catherine Jane Catto at St Kilda.
[1] In 1934 Simpson was elected chief president of the Victorian Wheatgrowers' Association and the following year won the equivalent position in the federal body, serving until 1936.
[1] Under Simpson's leadership, the SSC had considerable independence from government and successfully coordinated the organisation of returned servicemen's grants; 6000 soldiers were placed on farms.