Henry George Simpson was born on the 19th December 1823 in Ealing Middlesex, to Rev. Henry Winckworth Simpson and Elizabeth Bonella MacGregor Simpson (nee Skinner).
After completing his schooling at Dartmouth Henry joined the Royal Navy.
HMS Princess Charlotte
In 1840 he was midshipman on the HMS Princess Charlotte during operations on the coast of Syria, and at the bombardment of StJean dAcre where he obtained a medal.
By 1842 he was acting mate on HMS Harlequin during operations in the river Yang-Teze, and in a boat attack on pirates off the coast of Sumatra. He obtained his commission as sub-Lieutenant in 1843 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1846. From 1846 to 1850 he was stationed in the East Indies aboard HMS Rattlesnake. By the time he had retired from the Navy in 1863, he had been promoted to Commander.
In 1865 Henry arrived in Queensland Australia and within a year had been made Commissioner of Crown Lands (who was a government official who was appointed to administer crown lands in various Australian colonies). Henry was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 29th July 1868 and served for 14 years before resigning. During this time he became a member of the Marine Board of Queensland in 1869, the central Board of Health in 1874, and was a member of the Royal Commission for improving the Navigation of Moreton Bay Australia.
Henry married Eliza Lamb (born 1826, Hackney London) in South Africa in 1855. There is no record of any children being born.
The couple returned to England around 1881, as the 1881 census shows Henry living with Eliza at Park terrace, Malden in surrey
Henry died in Worthing on 30th August 1898, he was living at Woodview St Botolph's Road Worthing Sussex. He left an estate of £509 11s 8d (approx £39,000 in 2020)
Eliza died in Australia on 29th February 1904, and is buried in the Waverley cemetery, NSW, Australia