# Jane Cross Simpson

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{{Short description|Scottish writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
'''Jane Cross Simpson''' (1811–1886) was a Scottish writer, known as a hymn-writer and poet.

==Life==
The daughter of James Bell, advocate, and sister to [Henry Glassford Bell](/source/Henry_Glassford_Bell) and [Jonathan Anderson Bell](/source/Jonathan_Anderson_Bell),<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=2004|title=Bell, Henry Glassford|first=Michael S.|last=Moss}}</ref> she was born '''Jane Cross Bell''' in [Glasgow](/source/Glasgow) on 12 November 1811. Educated by her father, she studied the classics, and travelled much on the continent. For some years from 1822, her father  was assessor and town-clerk of [Greenock](/source/Greenock), and she contributed to the ''Greenock Advertiser'' under the pseudonym "Gertrude".<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Simpson, Jane Cross|volume=52}}</ref>

After her husband's death, Jane Simpson resided with her married daughter, Mrs. Napier, at [Portobello, Edinburgh](/source/Portobello%2C_Edinburgh), then [Newport-on-Tay](/source/Newport-on-Tay), and then [Aberdeen](/source/Aberdeen). She died at Aberdeen on 17 June 1886.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Works==
In 1831, as "Gertrude", Jane Bell wrote a noted hymn on prayer, ''Go when the morning shineth'', for the ''[Edinburgh Literary Journal](/source/Edinburgh_Literary_Journal)'', then edited by her brother Henry. She also contributed, in prose and verse, to the ''Scottish Christian Herald''. She published ''Piety of Daily Life'', tales and sketches, in 1836.<ref name="DNB"/>

As Jane Simpson, she published:<ref name="DNB"/>

* ''April Hours'', a poem, 1838. 
* ''Woman's History'', 1848. 
* ''Linda, or Beauty and Genius'', 1859; 2nd edit. 1884.
* ''Household edition of Burns's Works in Prose and Verse, edited by Gertrude'', 2 vols. 1870. 
* ''Picture Poems, and Linda and other Poems'', 1879.

In her later years Simpson wrote for ''[Good Words](/source/Good_Words)'', the ''Christian Leader'', and other periodicals. Her hymns appeared in: [Charles Rogers](/source/Charles_Rogers_(minister))'s ''Lyra Britannica'', 1867; [James Martineau](/source/James_Martineau)'s ''Hymns'', 1873; [Ebenezer Prout](/source/Ebenezer_Prout)'s ''Psalmist'', 1878; and the ''Scottish Evangelical Hymnal'', 1878.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Family==
In 1837 Jane Bell married her half-cousin, J. Bell Simpson, an artist and bibliographer, who was librarian of the Stirling Library, Glasgow, from 1851 to 1860; he published in 1872 ''Literary and Dramatic Sketches'', and died on 17 December 1874. She was survived by two daughters out of a family of eight.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=Simpson, Jane Cross|volume=52}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Jane Cross}}
Category:1811 births
Category:1886 deaths
Category:Church of Scotland hymnwriters
Category:Scottish poets
Category:British women hymnwriters
Category:19th-century Scottish women musicians
Category:19th-century Scottish women writers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jane Cross Simpson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Cross_Simpson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Cross_Simpson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.