Governor George Simpson
Image of a birchbark canoe on a Canadian River, from Glenbow Archive, image na-843-14, used with their permission
Governor George Simpson had a powerful effect on the history of the North American continent, and his power came to him as soon as he stepped off the ship from London. How did this man get so much power so quickly? I had to find out, and so I have been looking at everything Simpson did, and all the journeys he made. I still have questions, of course. And don’t we all?
So let’s look at the man himself. The child who became Governor George Simpson had as father another George Simpson–we will call him George Simpson, Sr. He was a writer (lawyer) in Dingwall, Scotland. His father (the Governor’s grandfather) was named Thomas, and Thomas Simpson died in 1786, at 50+ years of age. Thomas Simpson’s wife was named Isobel McKenzie. George Simpson Sr. (son of Thomas Simpson and Isobel McKenzie) was born and educated in Avoch, on the Black Isle, ten miles east of Dingwall: George Sr. was 15 years old in 1774, which would put his birth at 1759, and he died sometime after 1841. Now, that seems to me to be a very long life, and I wonder if those dates are correct.
So where and when was the future Governor George Simpson born? There are no records, and so no one really knows. An educated guess from a descendant says in or near Dingwall, “about 1792.” How do I know this? I am getting this information from James Raffan’s Emperor of the North: Sir George Simpson and the Remarkable story of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Governor George Simpson’s father, George Simpson Sr., grew up in Avoch (pronounced “Och”), a small fishing town on the Black Isle, 10 miles distant from Dingwall. He was sent to Dingwall to apprentice as a “writer” (lawyer) at the Dingwall Sheriff’s Court–a very busy court, mostly because it was located near the parish of Ferrintosh, which for many years was a place where the residents distilled liquor without paying the duties on it. It was a town with many taverns: where the drunken residents frequently argued, ending up in court as a result. George Simpson Sr. remained in that position, as a lawyer, for more than a decade.
George Simpson Sr.’s children were: Jean, Mary, Geddes, Duncan, and (maybe) Thomas. Nothing seems to be known of his wife (who was not Governor Simpson’s mother). After George Sr.’s father (Thomas) died, his wife, Isobel McKenzie, moved to Dingwall. At some point after this move, George Simpson Sr. had an affair with a woman that resulted in the birth of his first, and possibly only, son, the future Governor George Simpson. Although Governor Simpson appears to be very sensitive about his illegitimacy, there was no particular stigma attached to it, or at least not in Scotland at the time he was born. Later? Yes, there was.
The future Governor George Simpson was illegitimate, and nothing is known of his mother (unless it was one of his aunts, Jean, or Mary, which would mean incest in the family: something that the Governor would have reason to hide.) His aunt Mary looked after the future governor during his childhood and while he was attending school in Dingwall. Raffan makes an interesting point at this time: while Governor Simpson’s father was a lowlander, the future Governor also carried the blood of highlanders, inherited from his grandmother, Isobel McKenzie. The mix of the two bloodlines may have helped make Simpson as disciplined and pragmatic as a lowlander could be, and as flamboyant and visionary as a highlander often was.
The future Governor’s substitute mother, Mary, was courted by Alexander Simpson, the schoolmaster of the school that the future Governor attended. Alexander Simpson was already father to two children: Horatio Nelson Simpson (born out of wedlock), and Aemilius Simpson, born in 1792 to Alexander Simpson’s first wife, now dead. In 1807, when George Simpson was about fifteen years old, Mary wed Alexander Simpson, and it appears that the future Governor felt abandoned, both by his mother, who was marrying, and his father, who had moved across the country. At any rate, he didn’t return to his new family’s home in Dingwall. Mary gave birth to Thomas Simpson, and to Alexander–both of whom entered the HBC trade. My great grandfather, A.C. Anderson, trained at Lachine with Alexander, and Thomas made history with his Arctic explorations with Peter Warren Dease, and his subsequent death by suicide. But all that comes much later, and is not part of this story.
So the future Governor went down to London, working for his uncle, Geddes Simpson, who was a partner in Graham and Simpson, a London brokerage that traded in sugar. “Sugar was the king of commodities,” Raffan says, and all the sugar came from plantations in Jamaica that used slaves to plant, harvest, and process the sugar cane. Sugar came into the country as molasses for cooking; as granular sugar for tea and coffee; and as Rum. In 1812, Graham and Simpson merged with Wedderburn and Company (Andrew Wedderburn changed his name to Colvile two years later.) Andrew Wedderburn-Colvile had been involved with the HBC for some time, and he had become a member of the HBC’s London Committee in 1810.
For the first twenty years of the 19th century, the HBC was involved in a struggle for power with the North West Company, and in 1810 they became much more aggressive in the quarrel between the two companies. Colin Robertson, leader of the HBC in the Athabasca, was captured by the NWC men in October 1818, and charged with attempted murder. He escaped, but the HBC had already lost confidence in him. The then Governor-in-chief, William Williams, was also at risk of being arrested and charged. In their own defence, the London Committee wanted to select another manager for the North American fur trade–and the man they looked at for the job was the sugar broker, George Simpson. To his surprise, in 1820 George Simpson, sugar broker, was appointed Governor-in-chief locum tenans: “Locum tenans” means “in the place of.” If William Williams was captured, then Simpson would take his place as Governor.
Simpson was surprised by the unexpected appointment, but seized the opportunity. In spite of the “Locum tenans” title, Governor George Simpson was equal in power to Governor William Williams, and he did not let Williams forget it. He was a little more than 30 years old when he arrived on the North American continent (Williams was about 50 years old, I believe.) From New York Simpson traveled to Montreal and then on to Lake Superior, arriving at the North West Company’s Fort William to deliver a message to them that called for the end of the wars between the two companies. Then, at Rock Depot, at the bottom of the hill on the Hayes River, he met with William Williams and learned from him that Colin Robertson had just been arrested again. Simpson immediately set off for the Athabasca district, taking over from the now absent Robertson and managing the district over that winter. He had good advisers and did well: he dealt with the bullying that his own company men were now practicing, telling them that “The N.W. Co. are not to be put down by Prize fighting, but by persevering industry, Oeconomy in the business arrangements, and a firm maintenance of our rights, not by the fist but by the more deadly weapons.” He did not mean guns when he said that: he meant Discipline. In fact, the now obsolete word Oeconomy, means “house management, or the art of managing people and things in a more general sense.” The definition that made more sense to me, however, was this one: the art of “managing the economic and moral resources of the household for the maintenance of good order.”
Arrangements for the merging of the two companies was already underway when Simpson arrived at Fort William to deliver his message. The two companies merged in March 1821. The terms of agreement divided the massive North American territory into the Northern and Southern Districts, and William Williams was assigned to the smaller Southern district. Although the source I have on William Williams says that Williams was relieved to be offered the Southern Department, Simpson said differently. In a letter written to Andrew Colvile on May 20, 1822, Simpson says that “With Mr. William I passed several days at Cumberland and can see that he is a little hurt at being removed to the Southward, but had the choice been left to himself he certainly would have gone thither, as it is a more comfortable place and a sinecure compared with this Department. I think he will endeavour to lay aside his domineering manner, if not the business will not go on smoothly.”
As an aside: I learned a little about the Southern District! It consisted of all the posts along the shores of Lake Superior, as well as Moose Factory, on James Bay to the north. Moose Factory was the headquarters of the southern district, in fact. Every year, Simpson travelled from the northern shores of Lake Superior, portaging from the post at Michipicoten, north to the Missinaibi River and visiting New Brunswick House, on Brunswick Lake, on the upper waters of the Missinaibi River, on the way. The Missinaibi flowed north into the Moose River, which led him to James Bay where Moose Factory stood. The meeting was held at Moose Factory, and Simpson then returned to the Moose River, where he followed another tributary, the Abitibi, south and east to the Abitibi Post. He must at some point have portaged to another river, because he followed it downriver to Timiskaming, on the Ottawa River. Then a short paddle down the Ottawa, and he was home!
So, back to the story: Governor Simpson did not find Williams an easy man to work with. In the same letter as above, he told the London Committee that “The North or Nelson River Track I shall say little further about until I have seen it on my way to York [Factory] in about a month.” Simpson did travel down the Nelson River on his way to York Factory, a few years before he followed that river on his journey west in 1824. The record of that voyage begins here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/nelson-river/
Simpson is taking no guff from William Williams, and he made sure that Williams knew he [Simpson] would not tolerate this behaviour. He also made sure that the London Committee knew. A year or so later, Governor Williams was called to London and fired, and Simpson became Governor of both the Northern and the Southern Departments.
So Simpson’s 1825 return journey from the Columbia to Red River is found here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/simpson-at-fort-vancouver-1825/
His next visit to the west was in 1828-1829, and his journey to the west side of the Rocky Mountains is found here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/two-canoes-one/ I posted this when I wrote The York Factory Express (never suspecting that I would use it later), and I also used a part of this story in The HBC Brigades. Here is the entire story: Remember that there are two canoe journeys here, so stick with Governor Simpson’s records.
His return journey in 1829 is found here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/when-i-write-it/
His third journey to the west was in 1841, and it is found here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/rough-notes/
As you know, he visited the northwest coast, and if that is all you want to read, begin here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/simpson-to-fort-nisqually/
As you know, his 1842 journey took him to Great Britain through Russia: when I write that (if I write it) it will appear here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/when-and-if-i-write-it/
Copyright, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, 2025. All rights reserved.