Son of a shoe­mak­er, Simp­er worked for a while at a mu­sic shop in Wor­ces­ter, near that owned by the El­gar fam­i­ly. In the 1890s, he moved to Barn­st­aple, where he spent the rest of his ca­reer work­ing as a choir­mas­ter, or­gan­ist and com­pos­er. He pro­duced a pro­di­gious amount of Ang­li­can church mu­sic and organ piec­es, aimed at small pa­rish choirs and un­skilled or­gan­ists. His an­thems in par­ti­cu­lar be­came wid­ely pop­u­lar and were sold un­der the slo­gan Sung through­out the ci­vi­lized world. Over five mil­lion copies were sold by the 1920s.

1. Roland