Ernest Aldrich Simpson
Encyclopedia
Ernest Aldrich Simpson was a British shipping executive best known as the second husband of Wallis Simpson, who later would marry the former Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
. He was a partner with the shipbrokerage firm Simpson, Spence & Young.
, New York
, and educated at The Hill School
and Harvard, Simpson was briefly a captain in the Coldstream Guards
during World War I
. His father, Ernest Louis Simpson, a cofounder of the international shipbroker of Simpson, Spence & Young in 1880, was a British citizen whose original surname was Solomon. His mother, Charlotte Woodward Gaines, was American, daughter of Royal Aldrich Gaines, a New York lawyer, and his wife, the former Laura Walker. He had an elder sister, Maud (married Peter Kerr-Smiley
, MP, in 1905, and died 1962).
Simpson renounced his United States citizenship shortly after leaving Harvard and became a naturalized British citizen.
"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
.
, a Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
and a president of Harvard University
.
Dorothea and Ernest Simpson had one child, Audrey Simpson, who married, firstly, American journalist Murray J. Rossant and, secondly, on 1 April 1949, New York advertising executive Edmund Hope Driggs III. Audrey Simpson Driggs, as she is now known, is an artist and currently lives in Canada. Simpson also had a stepdaughter by this marriage, Cynthia Josephine Dechert (Mrs Robert Harold Baker, Mrs Henry Coolidge Adams Jr, Mrs Imbrie).
His second wife was Wallis Warfield Spencer (1896–1986), a former wife of Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.
and the only child of Teackle Wallis Warfield and his wife, Alice Montague. They were 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." 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.
A girlhood friend of Wallis Warfield, Mary Raffray was a bridesmaid at Warfield's first wedding and introduced her to Ernest Simpson in 1925; she also was the other woman with whom Simpson took a hotel suite in Berkshire
in order to give his wife, Wallis, evidence of adultery to so she could bring divorce proceedings against him. Ernest Simpson and Mary Raffray were married in the Diamond Jubilee ballroom of the Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield
, Connecticut
, on November 19, 1937, six months after the groom's divorce from Wallis Simpson and three weeks after the bride's divorce from Raffray (whom she had married 29 July 1918).
Mary and Ernest Simpson had one child, Ernest Henry Simpson, who was born prematurely on September 27, 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 war. However, a month before Mary's death he returned with her to England. Mary Simpson died of cancer on October 2, 1941, at the couple's home in Wiltshire
, England
. He changed his name legally after 1958 to Aharon Solomons
, and became a soldier in the Israeli army. Aharon Solomons
is an A.I.D.A
Master instructor and currently teaches in La Paz, Baja California Sur
, Mexico
.
, Surrey
, by his wife, Evelyne Maude Adamson. Simpson and Avril Leveson-Gower were married in London
, England
, on 12 August 1948. By this marriage he had one stepdaughter, Lucinda Gaye Leveson-Gower (born 1935, married Sir Spencer Le Marchant
in 1955). Avril Simpson was killed in a car crash in Mexico.
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
. He was a partner with the shipbrokerage firm Simpson, Spence & Young.
Background
Born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and educated at The Hill School
The Hill School
The Hill School is a preparatory boarding school for boys and girls located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia....
and Harvard, Simpson was briefly a captain in the Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. His father, Ernest Louis Simpson, a cofounder of the international shipbroker of Simpson, Spence & Young in 1880, was a British citizen whose original surname was Solomon. His mother, Charlotte Woodward Gaines, was American, daughter of Royal Aldrich Gaines, a New York lawyer, and his wife, the former Laura Walker. He had an elder sister, Maud (married Peter Kerr-Smiley
Peter Kerr-Smiley
Peter Kerr Kerr-Smiley was a Northern Irish Member of Parliament.He was born at Larne as Peter Kerr Smiley, the second son of Sir Hugh Smiley, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was a Lieutenant in the 21st Lancers, and from 1901 to 1902 served on the...
, MP, in 1905, and died 1962).
Simpson renounced his United States citizenship shortly after leaving Harvard and became a naturalized British citizen.
"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
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
First marriage
His first wife, whom he married in New York City, New York, on 22 February 1923 (divorced 1928) was Dorothea Parsons Dechert (died 1967), the former wife of James Flanagan Dechert. She was a daughter of Arthur Webb Parsons, a lawyer, and his wife, the former Frances Margaret Graves. The bride was a great-granddaughter of Theophilus ParsonsTheophilus Parsons
Theophilus Parsons was an American jurist.Born in Newbury, Massachusetts, and the son of a clergyman, Parsons was one of the early students at the Dummer Academy before matriculating to Harvard College from which he graduated in 1769, was a schoolmaster in Falmouth from 1770–1773; he studied law,...
, a Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...
and a president of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Dorothea and Ernest Simpson had one child, Audrey Simpson, who married, firstly, American journalist Murray J. Rossant and, secondly, on 1 April 1949, New York advertising executive Edmund Hope Driggs III. Audrey Simpson Driggs, as she is now known, is an artist and currently lives in Canada. Simpson also had a stepdaughter by this marriage, Cynthia Josephine Dechert (Mrs Robert Harold Baker, Mrs Henry Coolidge Adams Jr, Mrs Imbrie).
Second marriage
Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.
Commander Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. was a pioneering U.S. Navy pilot who served as the first commanding officer of Naval Air Station, San Diego. He was the first husband of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor....
and the only child of Teackle Wallis Warfield and his wife, Alice Montague. They were 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
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
and her subsequent fame thrust him into the role of "the forgotten man." 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.
Third marriage
His third wife was Mary Huntemuller Kirk (1896–1941), former wife of Jacques Achille Louis Raffray, a French-born New York insurance broker, and a daughter of Henry Child Kirk, owner and manager of the Kirk Silversmith Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, and his wife, the former Edith Huntemuller.A girlhood friend of Wallis Warfield, Mary Raffray was a bridesmaid at Warfield's first wedding and introduced her to Ernest Simpson in 1925; she also was the other woman with whom Simpson took a hotel suite in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
in order to give his wife, Wallis, evidence of adultery to so she could bring divorce proceedings against him. Ernest Simpson and Mary Raffray were married in the Diamond Jubilee ballroom of the Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield
Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, on November 19, 1937, six months after the groom's divorce from Wallis Simpson and three weeks after the bride's divorce from Raffray (whom she had married 29 July 1918).
Mary and Ernest Simpson had one child, Ernest Henry Simpson, who was born prematurely on September 27, 1939, and christened at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks
Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks
The Royal Military Chapel, St. James Park, known as the Guards Chapel, is the religious home of the Household Division at the Wellington Barracks in London. Built in 1838, the chapel was bombed during the Blitz in 1940/1941....
, London.In June 1940, the Simpsons sent their infant son to the United States to escape the war. However, a month before Mary's death he returned with her to England. Mary Simpson died of cancer on October 2, 1941, at the couple's home in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He changed his name legally after 1958 to Aharon Solomons
Aharon Solomons
Aharon Solomons was born on the 27th September 1939 is a free-diver and national record holder.The son of Mary Huntemuller Kirk. and Ernest Aldrich Simpson that was a partner with the shipbrokerage firm Simpson, Spence & Young...
, and became a soldier in the Israeli army. Aharon Solomons
Aharon Solomons
Aharon Solomons was born on the 27th September 1939 is a free-diver and national record holder.The son of Mary Huntemuller Kirk. and Ernest Aldrich Simpson that was a partner with the shipbrokerage firm Simpson, Spence & Young...
is an A.I.D.A
AIDA International
The International Association for Development of Apnea is the world wide rule- and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events . It aims to set standards for safety, comparability of Official World Record attempts and freedive education...
Master instructor and currently teaches in La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city had a 2010 census population of 215,178 persons, but its metropolitan population is somewhat larger because of surrounding towns like el Centenario, el Zacatal and San Pedro...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Fourth marriage
His fourth wife was Avril Joy Mullens (1910 – 28 November 1978), the former wife of Brigadier General Hugh Nugent Leveson-Gower, RA, a former wife of H.S.H. Prince George G. Imeretinsky, and the younger daughter of Sir John Ashley Mullens, of Manor House, HaslemereHaslemere
Haslemere is a town in Surrey, England, close to the border with both Hampshire and West Sussex. The major road between London and Portsmouth, the A3, lies to the west, and a branch of the River Wey to the south. Haslemere is approximately south-west of Guildford.Haslemere is surrounded by hills,...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, by his wife, Evelyne Maude Adamson. Simpson and Avril Leveson-Gower were married in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on 12 August 1948. By this marriage he had one stepdaughter, Lucinda Gaye Leveson-Gower (born 1935, married Sir Spencer Le Marchant
Spencer Le Marchant
Sir Spencer Le Marchant was a British Conservative Party politician.Born in Edmonton, London, Le Marchant was educated at Eton College and was a member of the London Stock Exchange. He served as a councillor on Westminster City Council from 1956.Le Marchant contested Vauxhall at the 1966 general...
in 1955). Avril Simpson was killed in a car crash in Mexico.