Charles Liddell Simpson
Charles Liddell Simpson (1862-1925) of Simpson and Co.
son of James Simpson
1925 Obituary [1]
CHARLES LIDDELL SIMPSON was born in Chelsea on 28th May 1862, being a son of the late Mr. James Simpson, of Messrs. James Simpson and Co., engineers, of Grosvenor Road, Pimlico, and the grandson of the late Mr. James Simpson, sen., of that firm, who was, in 1854, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
He was educated at Wellington College, and subsequently at the Technical High School, Hanover.
On his return to England, after spending a short time in the works at Pimlico, he went as a pupil - through the shops and offices of the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Co., on the Tyne, and then in 1888 joined the firm of Messrs. James Simpson and Co., of which he became Managing Director in 1896.
He took close part in the supervision and testing of the many large pumping machinery installations which the firm carried out for water-supply undertakings in this country and abroad, and when Messrs. Simpson and Co. removed their business to Newark-on-Trent he designed, laid out, and superintended the erection of the new Works in that place.
In 1905 he resigned his position as Managing Director and devoted his attention specially to waterworks matters.
From 1909 onwards to 1922 he was a director of Messrs. John Russell and Co. of the Alma Tube Works, Walsall, taking charge of the London branch of that business, and he was also interested in the Company - Worthington-Simpson, Ltd. - which was formed in 1917 to combine the interests of the Worthington Pump Co. and Messrs. James Simpson and Co., Ltd.
When the War came he gave special attention to the production of fuses, and he also became Chairman of the Patent Die Castings Co., Ltd., a company which did important work in regard to alloy castings.
Amongst the water undertakings and other engineering activities in which he was interested as director might be mentioned the Elam Valley Waterworks Co., Ltd., the Folkestone Waterworks Co., and the Atmospheric Steam Heating Co. (1907), Ltd.
For the Folkestone Co. he was specially interested in the construction of a four-million gallon water reservoir, and the making of a new adit by means of a Whittaker adit-boring plant.
Indifferent health caused Mr. Simpson during recent years gradually to withdraw from active business, and his death occurred on 12th March 1925, in his sixty-third year.
He became a Graduate of this Institution in 1883 and was transferred to full Membership in 1892.