Jane Cross Simpson (1811–1886) was a Scottish writer, known as a hymn-writer and poet.

Life

The daughter of James Bell, advocate, and sister to

Henry Glassford Bell Henry Glassford Bell (5 November 18037 January 1874) was a Scottish lawyer, poet and historian. Life Born in Glasgow, the son of advocate James Bell, he received his education at the Glasgow High School and at Edinburgh University. As a poet ...

and Jonathan Anderson Bell, she was born Jane Cross Bell in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 12 November 1811. Educated by her father, she studied the classics, and travelled much on the continent. For some years from 1822, her father was assessor and town-clerk of

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

, and she contributed to the ''Greenock Advertiser'' under the pseudonym "Gertrude". After her husband's death, Jane Simpson resided with her married daughter, Mrs. Napier, at

Portobello, Edinburgh Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa, Edinburgh, Joppa and Craigentinny. Although historically it ...

, then

Newport-on-Tay Newport-on-Tay is a small town in the north-east of Fife in Scotland, acting as a Commuting, commuter suburb for Dundee. The Fife Coastal Path passes through Newport-on-Tay. The area itself is surrounded by views of the two bridges that cross the ...

, and then

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. She died at Aberdeen on 17 June 1886.

Works

In 1831, as "Gertrude", Jane Bell wrote a noted hymn on prayer, ''Go when the morning shineth'', for the ''

Edinburgh Literary Journal Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

'', then edited by her brother Henry. She also contributed, in prose and verse, to the ''Scottish Christian Herald''. She published ''Piety of Daily Life'', tales and sketches, in 1836. As Jane Simpson, she published: * ''April Hours'', a poem, 1838. * ''Woman's History'', 1848. * ''Linda, or Beauty and Genius'', 1859; 2nd edit. 1884. * ''Household edition of Burns's Works in Prose and Verse, edited by Gertrude'', 2 vols. 1870. * ''Picture Poems, and Linda and other Poems'', 1879. In her later years Simpson wrote for ''

Good Words ''Good Words'' was a 19th-century monthly periodical established in the United Kingdom in 1860 by the Scottish publisher Alexander Strahan. Its first editor was Norman Macleod. After his death in 1872, it was edited by his brother, Donald Macleod, ...

'', the ''Christian Leader'', and other periodicals. Her hymns appeared in: Charles Rogers's ''Lyra Britannica'', 1867;

James Martineau James Martineau (; 21 April 1805 – 11 January 1900) was a British religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism. For 45 years he was Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College ( ...

's ''Hymns'', 1873;

Ebenezer Prout Ebenezer Prout (1 March 1835 – 5 December 1909) was an English musical theorist, writer, music teacher and composer, whose instruction, afterwards embodied in a series of standard works still used today, underpinned the work of many British cl ...

's ''Psalmist'', 1878; and the ''Scottish Evangelical Hymnal'', 1878.

Family

In 1837 Jane Bell married her half-cousin, J. Bell Simpson, an artist and bibliographer, who was librarian of the Stirling Library, Glasgow, from 1851 to 1860; he published in 1872 ''Literary and Dramatic Sketches'', and died on 17 December 1874. She was survived by two daughters out of a family of eight.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Jane Cross 1811 births 1886 deaths Church of Scotland hymnwriters Scottish poets British women hymnwriters 19th-century Scottish women musicians 19th-century Scottish women writers