{{short description|British Army officer (1897–1958)}} {{About-distinguish|Ernest Simpson|Ernest Simpson (cricketer)|Ernesto Simpson}} {{Use British English|date=July 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}} {{Infobox person |image = Ernest Simpson 1937.jpg |caption = Ernest Simpson in 1937 |birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1897|5|6}} |death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1958|11|30|1897|5|6}} |birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S. |death_place = [[London]], England |alma_mater = [[Harvard University]] |spouse = {{Plainlist| * {{marriage|Dorothea Webb Dechert|1923|1928|end=div}} * {{marriage|[[Wallis Simpson|Bessie Wallis Spencer]]|1928|1937|end=div}} * {{marriage|Mary Huntemuller Raffray|1937|1941|end=d}} * {{marriage |Avril Leveson-Gower|1948}}}} |children = 2 | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}} | branch = {{army|UK}} | unit = [[Coldstream Guards]] | rank = [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|Captain]] | battles = [[World War I]]}} }} '''Ernest Aldrich Simpson''' (6 May 1897 – 30 November 1958) was an [[United States|American]]-born British [[shipbroker]] and former [[captain]] in the [[Coldstream Guards]]. He was the second husband of [[Wallis Simpson]], who later married the former [[Edward VIII|King Edward VIII]] following his abdication. After his military service, Simpson joined the family shipbroking firm, [[Simpson Spence & Young]] (SSY)
==Background==
Ernest Aldrich Simpson was born on 6 May 1897 in [[New York City]]. He was educated at [[The Hill School]] before attending [[Harvard University]]. Simpson was commissioned in the [[British Army]], serving as a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in the [[Coldstream Guards]] during [[World War I]]. His father, Ernest Louis Simpson, a [[British citizen]] of [[Jewish descent|Jewish background]] whose original surname was Solomon, co-founded the global [[shipbroker|shipbroking]] [[firm]] [[Simpson, Spence & Young]],{{#tag:ref|In 1880 two shipbrokers Ernest Louis Simpson an Englishman and Lewis H Spence an American founded the firm of Simpson and Spence and set up an office in New York. This was an era of great change with world trade increasing in volume and steam gradually supplanting the clipper ships and schooners. In 1882 Captain William M Young was invited to join the partnership and open an office in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. From then on the firm was known as Simpson Spence & Young.
In the following years, offices were opened in London and for a time in other United Kingdom cities in order to service local principals, but it was New York and London that remained the focal points of worldwide shipping for several decades. In these two centres Simpson Spence & Young built up specialist teams of brokers and back-up staff, which were later to form the springboard for future development and expansion.
<br />''Extract from SSY brochure, 1986''|group= n}} trading since 1880.<ref name=JC>{{cite web|title=Revealed: Wallis Simpson's Jewish secret|url=http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-features/53359/revealed-wallis-simpsons-jewish-secret|work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]]|access-date=22 August 2011}}</ref> His mother, Charlotte Woodward Gaines, was American, daughter of a New York City attorney.
His elder sister and only sibling, Maud Simpson (1879–1962), married, in 1905, [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] [[Peter Kerr-Smiley]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]].
Simpson became a [[British nationality|British subject]] during [[World War I]], shortly after graduating from [[Harvard]] and renouncing his [[United States citizen]]ship.<ref name=JC/>
"In his younger years he was described as tall, with blue eyes, blond, curly hair, a neat blond moustache and a fastidious dresser," according to an article in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>"Ernest Simpson Dead in London", ''The New York Times'', 30 November 1958</ref>
==First marriage== His first wife, whom he married in New York City, on 22 February 1923 and divorced in 1928, was Dorothea Dechert (died 1967), the former wife of [[Dechert|James Flanagan Dechert]] (died 1968), a [[Princeton University]] alumnus,<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxlbAAAAYAAJ&q=princeton+alumni+james+flanagan+dechert&pg=RA17-PA22 |location= [[Princeton, New Jersey]] |publisher= Library of [[Princeton University]]|page= 22|date=29 September 1950 }}</ref> whom she married in May 1916 and divorced in April 1920. Born Dorothea Webb Parsons, she was a daughter of Arthur Webb Parsons,{{#tag:ref|This first wife was a great-granddaughter of [[Theophilus Parsons]], a [[Chief Justice]] of the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]] and [[President of Harvard University]].|group= n}} a lawyer, and his wife, the former Frances Margaret Graves.
Dorothea and Ernest Simpson had one child, Audrey C. C. Simpson (born 1924), who married firstly on 5 October 1945, American journalist [[Rossant (surname)|Murray Rossant]] (died 1988, brother of architect [[James Rossant]]) and, secondly on 1 April 1949, New York advertising executive Edmund Hope Driggs III.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/29/obituaries/murray-j-rossant-is-dead-at-65-journalist-led-20th-century-fund.html | work=The New York Times | first=Glenn | last=Fowler | title=Murray J. Rossant Is Dead at 65; Journalist Led 20th Century Fund | date=29 June 1988}}</ref><ref>"Mrs Rossant is bride of Edward Driggs III, ''The New York Times'', 2 April 1949</ref> Audrey Simpson Driggs died at Calgary, Canada on 2 November 2013.
Simpson also had a [[stepdaughter]] by this marriage, Cynthia Josephine Dechert (born 1916).{{#tag:ref|Who wed Robert Harold Baker (married 1937, annulled 1938) and James [[Imbrie Farm|Imbrie]] Jr. (married 1950)}}
==Second marriage== Simpson's second wife was [[Wallis Simpson|Wallis Warfield Spencer]] (1896–1986), the [[Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania]]-born former wife of [[Earl Winfield Spencer Jr.]] and the only child of Teackle Wallis Warfield. They married in London, England, on 21 July 1928, and divorced on 3 May 1937. As his obituary in ''[[The New York Times]]'' noted, the publicity over his second wife's remarriage to the [[Duke of Windsor]] and her subsequent fame thrust him into the role of "the forgotten man".<ref name="ReferenceA">"Ernest Simpson Died in London", ''The New York Times'', 30 November 1958</ref> The two remained friends, however, the newspaper noted, with the now [[Duchess of Windsor]] sending him flowers when he was in hospital for surgery and Simpson offering advice and clarification when his former wife was working on her memoirs.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
==Third marriage== [[File:Mary Kirk 1937.jpg|right|thumb|155px|Mary Kirk Raffray, 1937]] His third wife was Mary Raffray (''née'' Mary Huntemuller Kirk, 1896–1941),{{#tag:ref|Raffray was the former wife of Jacques Achille Louis Raffray, a French-born New York [[insurance broker]]. He died on 5 March 1971.|group= n}} a daughter of Henry Child Kirk, proprietor of the Kirk Silversmith Co. of [[Baltimore]], Maryland<ref>[https://www.collectorsweekly.com/silver/kirk Kirk Silversmith Co.]</ref> and his wife, the former Edith Huntemuller,<ref>[Mary Raffray was the sister of author E. Buckner Kirk Hollingsworth [https://books.google.com/books/about/Hollingsworth_Kirk_Papers.html?id=EryhMQEACAAJ Kirk-Hollingsworth Papers]</ref> who dedicated her book ''Her Garden Was Her Delight'' to her memory. Mary Simpson's letters, along with her sister's, are held at [[Harvard University Archives]].
A girlhood friend of Wallis Simpson's, Mary Kirk was a bridesmaid at her first wedding and introduced her to Ernest Simpson in 1925; she also was the "other woman" with whom Simpson took a hotel suite in [[Bray, Berkshire]], in order to give his wife evidence of [[adultery]], so that she could bring divorce proceedings against him.{{#tag:ref|As they were married in England they were required to be divorced under [[English law]], where tight restrictions on divorce applied at that time.|group= n}} Ernest Simpson and Mary Raffray were married in the Diamond Jubilee ballroom of the [[Brooklawn Country Club]] in [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]], Connecticut on 19 November 1937, six months after the groom's divorce from Wallis Simpson and three weeks after the bride's divorce from Jacques Raffray, a French aviator (son of French explorer [[Achille Raffray]]), whom Mary had married on 29 July 1918.
Mary and Ernest Simpson had one child, Ernest Henry Child Simpson, born in 1939, and christened at the [[Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks]], London. In June 1940, the Simpsons sent their infant son to the United States to escape the [[Second World War]], in particular [[the Blitz]]. However, a month before Mary's death, he returned with her to England. Mary Simpson died of cancer on 2 October 1941, at the couple's home – Stanton House, [[Stanton Fitzwarren]], Wiltshire.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} Ernest (the son) changed his name to Aharon Solomons in 1958 before being commissioned as an officer in the [[Israeli Army]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sebba|first=Anne|author-link=Anne Sebba|date=18 August 2011|title=Revealed: Wallis Simpson's Jewish secret|url=https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-features/53359/revealed-wallis-simpsons-jewish-secret|access-date=2020-10-21|website=[[Jewish Chronicle]]}}</ref>
==Fourth marriage== Simpson's fourth wife was [[Leveson-Gower family|Avril Leveson-Gower]] (''née'' Avril Joy Mullens, 1910 – 28 November 1978), the former wife of [[Brigadier-General]] [[Leveson-Gower|Hugh Nugent Leveson-Gower]] and [[George G. Imeretinsky|Prince George Imeretinsky]]. She was the younger daughter of Sir John Ashley Mullens, of Manor House, [[Haslemere]], Surrey, by his wife, the former Evelyne Maude [[Adamson (surname)|Adamson]]. Simpson and Avril Leveson-Gower were married in London on 12 August 1948. By this marriage Simpson had a stepdaughter, Lucinda Gaye Leveson-Gower (born 1935, married [[Spencer Le Marchant|Sir Spencer Le Marchant]] in 1955). Avril Simpson was killed in a car crash in Mexico in 1978.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}
==Death== Simpson died in London on 30 November 1958, aged 61.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 1, 1958 |title=Simpson (Unknown Man of the Abdication) dies at 61 |work=Daily News |location=London, England |page=5}}</ref>
==In popular culture== He was played by [[Charles Keating (actor)|Charles Keating]] in ''[[Edward & Mrs. Simpson|Edward and Mrs Simpson]]'' (1978).
He was played by [[Tom Wilkinson]] in ''[[The Woman He Loved]]'' (1988).
He was played by [[Anthony Smee]] in ''[[Bertie and Elizabeth]]'' (2002).
He was played by [[David Westhead]] in ''[[Wallis & Edward]]'' (2005).
He was portrayed by [[David Harbour]] in ''[[W.E.]]'', a 2011 [[romantic drama film]] about the [[Duke of Windsor|Duke]] and [[Duchess of Windsor]]'s courtship; the movie was co-written and directed by [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536048/fullcredits|work=[[IMDb]]|title=W.E.: Full Cast and Crew}}</ref>
==Notes and references== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=n}} ;References {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Ernest Aldrich}} [[Category:1890s births]] [[Category:1958 deaths]] [[Category:Wallis Simpson]] [[Category:American emigrants to England]] [[Category:English people of German-Jewish descent]] [[Category:The Hill School alumni]] [[Category:Harvard University alumni]] [[Category:Coldstream Guards officers]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Businesspeople from New York City]] [[Category:Shipbroking companies]] [[Category:Abdication of Edward VIII]] [[Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer in England]] [[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]