Print of photograph of James Young Simpson
ED.CS.2007.15.5
Print of photograph of James Young Simpson [elderly] seated and looking to the right. There is a signature included in a lozenge shaped sub mount. The handwritten label on the back reads:
"This photo of Sir James Yound Simpson, taken in his sealskin coat which was presented to him by Ladies of Edinburgh in gratitude for his wonderful discovery, is a copy of the one given by him to my Grandmother Mary Anne Dance, who married his eldest brother Tom's only son David. Their son Tom died from feaver [?] when it broke out at Durham School. Their daughter Alice Jane Dance Simpson (my mother) married Betram Thomas Ord, who made this black oak frame from what was at one time part of the old wooden bridge with houses over the river Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead. The bridge was washed away in the great flood of 1771.
Given to Simpson House on 23rd September 1949 by Helen May Ord."
The frame is made of oak from the medieval bridge that spanned the river Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead, which was washed away in the great flood of 1771. The bridge was erected in the 13th century and had upon it had been built a host of shops, houses, towers, churches, a gunpowder store and a prison.
