Personal papers of Captain John Carrick Simpson

Includes typed copy of letter from John Carrick Simpson to his father, describing events at Gallipoli (1915), a drawing of the headland at Gaba Tepe on the Gallipoli peninsular (1915), a newspaper cutting with an obituary for John Carrick Simpson (1970) and typescript biography of John Carrick Simpson (1970).

Administrative / biographical background
John Carrick Simpson was born at Bowes Park, Middlesex, in 1882. He was the eldest son of the architect Sir John William Simpson (1858-1933) and his wife Adela Carrick née Rumsey. He was brought up in the home of his grandfather in Brighton and at the age of fifteen became a cadet on the training ship WORCESTER on the River Thames. Between 1900 and 1904 he was a midshipman in the Australia trade on the sailing ships ILLAWARRA (1881) and MACQUARIE (1875), owned by Devitt & Moore. He was employed on cargo and passenger steamers of the Union-Castle Line from 1906 onwards and qualified as master (certificate number 038444) in 1909. He was first officer on the passenger liner GLOUCESTER CASTLE (1911) when she was requisitioned for use as a transport for the Gallipoli landings in 1915. At the beginning of the Second World War, Simpson was master of the WARWICK CASTLE (1930) and successfully brought the ship home from Cape Town after avoiding an attack from two German submarines. In the following year he retired from the sea and settled in Stockbridge, Hampshire, where he died in 1970.