Thomas Simpson (architect)

[3] After travelling in Germany, he later moved to Brighton and he started his professional career articled to James Charnock Simpson, his uncle.

[5] They both had long architectural careers: John, who designed public buildings and monuments across Britain,[4] was articled to his father in 1875, as was Gilbert in 1886.

[3][6] He entered into a partnership with Henry Branch,[6] and later took on Gilbert as a full partner after he had served his apprenticeship (the practice was known as Thomas Simpson & Son from 1890.

During the period he was in partnership with Henry Branch, they submitted the winning entry for the competition to design a clock tower for an important road junction in central Brighton.

[8] The Building News of 22 July 1881 published plans and a sketch of Simpson and Branch's proposal and gave a full description.

Public toilets would have been placed beneath the main tower of the squat four-sided structure, which was to have been of Portland stone with some granite work.

[9] In September 2014, conservation group The Brighton Society applied for planning permission to erect a commemorative blue plaque on the Connaught Road School in Hove, one of Simpson's buildings.

[7] Simpson designed and built a series of "distinguished" board schools in a variety of styles between 1870 and 1903, some (from 1890) in partnership with his son Gilbert.

[19][20] Simpson's earliest recorded commission was his work to redesign and extend the Ann Street chapel of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion in 1857.

[21] In 1861, he redesigned Salem Strict Baptist Chapel in Bond Street in the North Laine area of Brighton.

This was an Early English Gothic Revival-style building with a stuccoed façade, placed on a corner site in the Hanover district of Brighton.