William of Simpson

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Not to be confused with William Simpson the Elder. , from 1840 William von Simpson, landlord at Georgenburg

William Hubertus by Simpson the Elder J. (born April 19, 1881 in Nettienen (west of Georgenburg in East Prussia ); † May 11, 1945 in Scharbeutz , Schleswig-Holstein ) was a German writer .

biography

Georgenburg Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

William was the eldest of six children of the landowner George von Simpson (1853–1899) and his wife Ellen, b. von der Groeben (1854–1934). He attended the Insterburger Gymnasium (presumably according to a classmate). He completed an agricultural apprenticeship, then his military service and was temporarily a colonial officer in German South West Africa . Then Simpson bought the Groß Lauth estate in the Prussian Eylau district . In 1913 he took up a position as land stableman of the Lippe Stud Lopshorn . From 1914 he served as a soldier in the First World War with deployments in the Balkans and the Middle East.

After the First World War, Simpson lived in Brazil for five years , then in Berlin , Austria and the Rominter Heide in East Prussia. In 1935 he settled in Scharbeutz in the Villa Klein Beeren on the Baltic Sea, where he put an end to his life during the British invasion in May 1945. His final resting place is the forest cemetery of the community of Timmendorfer Strand (field G2, grave no. 36a).

The Simpsonweg in Berlin-Lichtenrade was named after him in 1957.

Simpson was married to Margot von Simpson , divorced from Herder, b. von Gustedt from the Harz town of Berßel . Margot was also active as a writer: Prince Woronzeff (1929), Rider in Day and Dream (1938). The Simpson couple had two children, one of whom was the later author Hubertus William von Simpson (* 1919).

writer

The work of William of the Simpsons is counted as entertainment literature. Simpson read and wrote extensively during his wartime missions and his many travels, starting with two books during World War I. He worked on his main work The Barrings for 20 years. This two-volume novel is a family story on a grand scale: The Barrings (1937) and The Barrings' Grandson (1939). Several generations of a family belonging to the East Prussian landed aristocracy are portrayed in the Wilhelmine years from 1875 to 1914.

This family saga was continued by the novel Das Erbe der Barrings by Hubertus William von Simpson, the son of William, in 1956: Hamburg 1956. This resulted in a trilogy by father and son Simpson on "The Barrings".

William von Simpson also described his ride from Peest in the Schlawe district in Pomerania to Constantinople .

Major works

  • Die Barrings , Potsdam: Rütten and Loening 1937. Later published under the title “Die Barrings. The great East Prussian novel ”, Heyne 1974
  • The grandson of the Barrings , Potsdam: Rütten and Loening 1939

Minor works

  • In the saddle from the Baltic Sea beach to the Bosporus . Berlin: Stilke 1915
  • Daily questions about German country horse breeding . Ibid. 1917

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Simpson, William of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Simpson, William Hubertus of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Georgenburg , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1945
Place of death Scharbeutz , Schleswig-Holstein