(d London, c1749). English music publisher, instrument maker and engraver, established in London. He was employed by John Hare's widow, Elizabeth (see Hare family), until her retirement in 1734, when he set up in business for himself, taking over the trade sign from Mrs Hare and probably also her stock and plates. He also had connections for a short time with Thomas Cobb, and when James Oswald arrived in London in 1741 he may have worked for Simpson, who published some of his compositions.
Simpson's early publications were mostly sheet songs, many of which were later gathered into the volume of Harmonia anglicana (1744) containing the earliest known appearance of God Save the King. This collection was almost immediately reissued with the title changed to Thesaurus musicus, and a second volume was added in about 1745. Other notable publications were Henry Carey's The Musical Century (3/1744), The Delightful Pocket Companion (c1745), a reissue of Calliope (1746–7), Thomas Arne's The Musick in the Masque of Comus (c1749) and Lyric Harmony (c1746–8), and Gluck's Six Sonatas for Two Violins & a Thorough Bass (1746).
After his death Simpson was succeeded by his widow Ann, with Maurice Whitaker as manager, and the business continued in her name until she married John Cox in 1751. At Cox's retirement in 1764 many of Simpson's plates were acquired by Robert Bremner, Henry Thorowgood, the Thompson family and john Walsh (ii). The business passed into the hands of James Simpson, son of John and Ann, who about 1767 took his own son, John, into the firm, which continued until about 1795. They were mainly active as violin and flute makers (or at least dealers), but published a small quantity of music, mostly single sheet songs. They were presumably related to James Simpson jr, who was at Sweeting's Alley from about 1796 to 1799.
Humphries-SmithMP
D.W. Krummel: ‘God Save the King’, MT, ciii (1962), 159–60
B.W. Harvey: The Violin Family and its Makers in the British Isles (Oxford, 1995)
FRANK KIDSON/WILLIAM C. SMITH/PETER WARD JONES