Architect. He was the son of the architect Jonathan Simpson (1850–1937); his godfather was the industrialist, philanthropist and politician, William Hesketh Lever (1851–1925), a close friend of his father’s since childhood. He studied at Liverpool University and was then articled to Grayson and Ould. He established his own practice in Liverpool in 1905, also working both with his father and for Lever. In 1910 he became manager of the Architectural Department of Lever Brothers and was made a director of the Company in 1917. He designed the architectural elements of the Leverhulme Memorial (sculpture by William Reid Dick), outside the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight (1927–30). He also worked on private commissions throughout his life.
Bibliography: Architects of Greater Manchester 1800–1940 (website): ‘James Lomax Simpson’; E. Hubbard and M. Shippobottom, A Guide to Port Sunlight Village, Liverpool, 2005, p. 101; E. Morris and E. Roberts, Public Sculpture of Cheshire and Merseyside, Liverpool, 2012, pp. xxv, 154, 159, 160–61, 162–66.
Emma Roberts, 2012; revised, Terry Cavanagh, October 2025