Frank Gerald Simpson

Frank Gerald Simpson (31 October 1882 – 14 May 1955) CBE, MA, Hon. FSA Scot. was a British archaeologist and authority on Hadrian’s Wall. He was the first to confirm that Hadrian’s Wall was built by the Emperor Hadrian and not the Emperor Severus as some antiquarians believed.

Early life He was the son of Edward Simpson of Boston Spa in Yorkshire and educated at Rydal Mount School. In 1899 he took up an apprenticeship with Hawthorn, Leslie and Company of Tyneside, The planning and photography done on the site set a high standard for future excavation work. Gibson wrote of Simpson’s dedication “superintending, digging, and making his own plans, and living on the spot during the summer and autumn of one of the wettest seasons of recent times”.

In 1909 Simpson and Gibson excavated at Nether Denton in Cumberland on a milecastle on the Wall which was published as two large reports in the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society

Post-World War One During the First World War Simpson worked in an aircraft factory.

Honours and awards Simpson received many awards during his lifetime. In 1923 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 1924 he received an honorary MA from the University of Durham. He was awarded a CBE for services to archaeology in 1949.

He was a vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1938 to 1952. He was also vice president of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society between 1924 and 1947 and its president in1948.

The Centenary Pilgrimage Handbook for the Roman Wall Pilgrimage of 1949 was dedicated to him.

Personal life Simpson married Sarah Maydew in 1914 and was the father of two daughters, one of whom was the archaeologist and Roman pottery researcher Grace Simpson.

He died on the 14 May 1955, and was buried in St Cuthbert's Nether Denton churchyard, which is inside the Nether Denton Roman Fort and overlooks the site of his excavations of 1909.

Selected publications