Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/361

 life in literary work, and he died there on 17 Aug. 1899.

Simpson occupied a unique position in art. On 23 March 1874 he was elected an associate of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and became a full member on 3 Feb. 1879. It was partly through his exertions that it was elevated by charter to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1884, and he continued to exhibit annually up till the year of his death. Between 1874 and 1899 he exhibited fifty-nine pictures. Simpson was one of the original members of the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours (now the Society of Oil Painters) when it was founded in 1883, but retired in 1886. His reputation as an artist in black-and-white overshadowed his fame as a colourist, though his pictures were always characterised by accurate draughtsmanship and quiet natural colour. He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an honorary associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and also of the Glasgow Institute of Architects; a member of the Royal Asiatic Society; one of the executive of the Palestine Exploration Fund; and founder, with Samuel Birch [q. v. Suppl.], of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. To all these societies he contributed numerous papers on a vast variety of subjects, chiefly architectural and archaeological. Simpson had a long and honourable connection with freemasonry, which he often found useful in his travels. He was initiated in 1871, was one of the first members of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge in 1886, and two years afterwards became worshipful master, contributing many valuable papers to the 'Transactions.' His last combined literary and artistic work was a volume entitled 'Glasgow in the Forties,' in which he reproduced many of his sketches of Glasgow street architecture, made about 1848, and wrote descriptive letterpress. The volume was published posthumously in December 1899, with a biographical sketch.

Simpson's principal works were: 1. 'Illustrations of the War in the East,' 1855-6, 2 vols. with 81 tinted plates. 2. 'Meeting the Sun, a Journey round the World,' 1873. 3. 'Picturesque People, or Groups from all Quarters of the Globe,' 1876. 4. 'Shikar and Tamasha, a Souvenir of the Visit of the Prince of Wales to India,' 1876. 5. 'The Buddhist Praying Wheel,' 1896. 6. 'The Jonah Legend,' posthumously, October 1899. 7. 'Glasgow in the Forties,' posthumously, December 1899, with a portrait of the author. He was a voluminous contributor to the 'Proceedings' and 'Transactions' of the Royal Geographical Society, the Society of Biblical Archaeology, the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Quatuor Coronati Lodge. 'Harper's Magazine,' 'Fraser's Magazine,' and 'Good Words.' A list of his principal papers will be found in the memoir prefixed to 'Glasgow in the Forties' (1899).  SKENE, FELICIA MARY FRANCES (1821–1899), novelist, was the youngest daughter of James Skene [q. v.] of Rubislaw and his wife, Jane Forbes, daughter of Sir William Forbes, sixth baronet of Pitsligo. She was born on 93 May 1821 at Aix in Provence. As a child she played with the children of the exiled king, Charles X, at Holyrood; as a girl she was the guest of Lord Stratford de RedclifFe at the embassy at Constantinople; and later was the friend of, among others, Sir John Franklin, Pusey, Landor, and Aytoun. Her father was a great friend of Sir Walter Scott, and it is said that Miss Skene as a child used to sit on the great novelist's knee and tell him fairy tales. In 1838 the family moved to Greece on account of Mrs. Skene 's health. Skene built a villa near Athens, in which they lived for some time. They returned to England in 1845, and lived first at Leamington and afterwards at Oxford.

Miss Skene was a very accomplished woman and devoted to good" works. When, in 1854, cholera broke out at Oxford, she took part, under Sir Henry Acland [q. v. Suppl.], in organising a band of nurses. Some of them were sent afterwards to the Crimea, and during the war Miss Skene remained in constant correspondence with Miss Nightingale. She took much interest in rescue work in Oxford, and was one of the first 'lady visitors' appointed by the home office to visit the prison. Some of her experiences were told in a series of articles in 'Blackwood's Magazine,' published in book form in 1889, and entitled 'Scenes from a Silent World.'

Her earliest published work was 'Isles of Greece, and other Poems,' which appeared in 1843. A devotional work, 'The Divine Master,' was published in 1852 (llth edit. 1888), memoirs of her cousin Alexander Penrose Forbes [q. v.], bishop of Brechin, and Alexander Lycurgus, archbishop of the Cyclades, in 1876 and 1877 respectively. In 1866 she published anonymously a book called 'Hidden Depths.' It was republished with her name and an introduction by Mr. 