George Buchan Simpson
Encyclopedia
George B. Simpson was a Scottish art collector, connoisseur and patron of Scottish painters. He financed his interests through his wealth acquired as a linen
manufacturer and jute
merchant in Dundee
, Scotland. He is "Dundee’s Forgotten Maecenas" according to a recent academic paper.
in Kincardineshire
. They had two sons and four daughters - Robert John, Jessie, Catherine, Florence, Eleanor and Kenneth. He died in Edinburgh on 1 July 1892.
. (Grove Academy
was later built on the site of this house). He began also to rival local patrons in the arts. However, a downturn in trade in the 1870s brought an end to his partnership with Ritchie. He struggled on with his manufacturing business and eventually retired in 1886. Thereafter he devoted himself to his arts patronage.
, George Paul Chalmers
, W. Q. Orchardson
, Sam Bough
, James Cassie
and Alexander Fraser
. He was strict in what he expected from these artists. "No Simpson landscape was usually considered complete without the interpolation of a human or animal motif, from boys fishing to cattle grazing." In 1867, Simpson was appointed convener of the committee which organised an art exhibition during the visit of the British Association to Dundee. Simpson was also an ardent collector of books and all kinds of objets d'art. He had a collection of rare books dating from the fifteenth to the 18th centuries and in October 1879 he displayed this collection in Dundee Museum for benefit of his fellow citizens. His collections of coins and medals were sold off in a sale lasting five days. A collection of Simpson's correspondence with George P. Chalmers
and Edward Pinnington
is to be found in the Royal Scottish Academy
's George B. Simpson
Collection.
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
manufacturer and jute
Jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....
merchant in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Scotland. He is "Dundee’s Forgotten Maecenas" according to a recent academic paper.
Life
George Buchan Simpson was born in Dundee on 10 October 1820. His father was Robert Simpson, a shipmaster and later a flax merchant, and his mother was Janet Buchan. He was educated at Mr. Gilbert’s School in Meadow Entry, Dundee. He married Margaret Maria Shaw on 10 June 1856 at FettercairnFettercairn
Fettercairn is a small village in northeast Scotland. It is located northwest of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire on the B966 from Edzell...
in Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire
The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a local government county on the coast of northeast Scotland...
. They had two sons and four daughters - Robert John, Jessie, Catherine, Florence, Eleanor and Kenneth. He died in Edinburgh on 1 July 1892.
Business career
Simpson trained in linen manufacturing with Messrs. Alexander Easson and Charles Clark at the Dens Works in Dundee. By the mid 1850s he had gone into partnership with William Ritchie (c.1818-1902) and their firm, Messrs. Ritchie, Simpson & Co., which began with flax spinning mills in Maxwellton and Hawkhill. Later the firm had works in Ward Road, Nelson Street and Lower Pleasance. A decade later the firm had diversified into jute manufacturing. Simpson’s increasing prosperity by that time enabled him to move to Seafield House in fashionable Broughty FerryBroughty Ferry
Broughty Ferry is a suburb on the eastern side of the City of Dundee, on the shore of the Firth of Tay in eastern Scotland...
. (Grove Academy
Grove Academy
Grove Academy is a secondary school in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. One of the most academically achieving schools in Scotland, Grove Academy enrolls approximately 1500 pupils, the majority of which are from Forthill, Eastern, and Barnhill primary schools...
was later built on the site of this house). He began also to rival local patrons in the arts. However, a downturn in trade in the 1870s brought an end to his partnership with Ritchie. He struggled on with his manufacturing business and eventually retired in 1886. Thereafter he devoted himself to his arts patronage.
Arts patronage
Simpson supported artistic talent and befriended painters such as William MacTaggartWilliam MacTaggart
Sir William MacTaggart was a Scottish painter known for his landscapes of East Lothian, France, Norway and elsewhere. He is sometimes called William MacTaggart the Younger to distinguish him from his grandfather, the painter William McTaggart.-Life and work:William MacTaggart was born at Loanhead...
, George Paul Chalmers
George Paul Chalmers
George Paul Chalmers was a Scottish painter.He was born at Montrose, and studied at Trustees Academy in Edinburgh under Robert Scott Lauder . He turned to landscapes later in his career, instead of the portraits which formed his earlier work...
, W. Q. Orchardson
William Quiller Orchardson
Sir William Quiller Orchardson was a noted Scottish portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75.-Early years:...
, Sam Bough
Sam Bough
Sam Bough was an English-born landscape painter who spent much of his career working in Scotland.Born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England he was self-taught and worked as a theatre scenery painter in Manchester and Glasgow. Encouraged by Daniel Macnee to take up landscape painting he moved to...
, James Cassie
James Cassie
James Cassie , was a Scottish marine landscape, portrait, genre and animal painter.-Life and work:Cassie was born at Keith Hall, Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, in 1819. A childhood accident left him permanently lame. He determined on art as a career and became a pupil of James Giles RSA, a painter of...
and Alexander Fraser
Alexander Fraser
Alexander Fraser may refer to:*Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie, died by 1332 AD*Alexander Fraser , soldier and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West*Alexander Fraser Alexander Fraser may refer to:*Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie, died by 1332 AD*Alexander Fraser...
. He was strict in what he expected from these artists. "No Simpson landscape was usually considered complete without the interpolation of a human or animal motif, from boys fishing to cattle grazing." In 1867, Simpson was appointed convener of the committee which organised an art exhibition during the visit of the British Association to Dundee. Simpson was also an ardent collector of books and all kinds of objets d'art. He had a collection of rare books dating from the fifteenth to the 18th centuries and in October 1879 he displayed this collection in Dundee Museum for benefit of his fellow citizens. His collections of coins and medals were sold off in a sale lasting five days. A collection of Simpson's correspondence with George P. Chalmers
George Paul Chalmers
George Paul Chalmers was a Scottish painter.He was born at Montrose, and studied at Trustees Academy in Edinburgh under Robert Scott Lauder . He turned to landscapes later in his career, instead of the portraits which formed his earlier work...
and Edward Pinnington
Edward Pinnington
Edward Pinnington was a Scottish art historian, biographer and journalist. He is mainly known for his authoritative biographies of Scottish artists but he also wrote several articles on Robert Burns and his family.- Life :...
is to be found in the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
's George B. Simpson
George Buchan Simpson
George B. Simpson was a Scottish art collector, connoisseur and patron of Scottish painters. He financed his interests through his wealth acquired as a linen manufacturer and jute merchant in Dundee, Scotland. He is "Dundee’s Forgotten Maecenas" according to a recent academic paper.- Life :George...
Collection.
Professional memberships and appointments
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of ScotlandSociety of Antiquaries of ScotlandThe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...
, 1870. - Member of the Numismatic Society of London
- Justice of Peace for Forfarshire
- Member of Broughty FerryBroughty FerryBroughty Ferry is a suburb on the eastern side of the City of Dundee, on the shore of the Firth of Tay in eastern Scotland...
School Board
Sources
- Helen Smailes. "Dundee’s Forgotten Maecenas? G. B. Simpson and the Patronage of Modern Scottish Art". Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, Vol. 14, 2009–2010, pp. 29–39.
- Dundee Year Book, 1892, Obituary Notices, p. 79.
- Births, marriages, deaths and census information available at the General Register Office for Scotland, Scotland's People Centre in Edinburgh, and also here