Christopher Simpson - Life

Life

Simpson was born between 1602 and 1606, probably at Egton, Yorkshire. He was the eldest son of Christopher Sympson, a Yorkshireman, who is usually described as a cordwainer but who was also the manager of a theatre company patronised by wealthy Yorkshire Catholics. It is thought that Sympson senior may have preferred to portray himself at times as a simple craftsman, rather than a high-profile Catholic sympathiser, at a time when Catholics were persecuted in England. There is a theory (put forward by Urquart) that Christopher Simpson (junior), the musician, could have been the same Simpson (or Sampson) who was educated as a Jesuit in continental Europe and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1629. However, Simpson's death in 1669 is at odds with the evidence that the Jesuit Simpson lived until 1674.

Simpson fought in the English Civil War, on the Royalist side and, in 1642, was a quarter-master in the army of the Earl (later Duke) of Newcastle. Following the siege of York, Simpson took refuge at the manor of Sir Robert Bolles (1619–1663), at Scampton, Lincolnshire, where Bolles employed him as a resident musician and tutor to his son John.

Simpson remained in the Bolles' household (either in Lincolnshire, or their house in London) for the remainder of his life. His will was made on 5 May 1669 and was proved in London on 29 July 1669. It seems likely that he died at Sir John Bolles' house in Holborn, London, or possibly at Scampton Hall.