Thomas Simpson (1808 - 1840)
	
Thomas Simpson was born in Dingwell, Ross-shire, Scotland. He was the son of Mary and Alexander Simpson. He attended King’s College Aberdeen with the goal of becoming a minister. He graduated in 1828 with a Master of Arts and enrolled in a divinity class but then accepted a position offered by his cousin, Sir George Simpson, to join the Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC) He arrived at Norway House in 1829 as George Simpson's secretary. Simpson was stationed at the Red River Colony in the 1830s, serving as second officer to Chief Factor Christie.((“Thomas Simpson (explorer).” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Simpson_(explorer) ))
	
From 1836 to 1839 Simpson was a HBC junior officer with responsibilities over his position in Peter Warren Dease’s expedition to chart North America’s arctic coast between the Coppermine River and Point Barrow [Nuvuk]. Simpson sent a letter to the HBC with a recommendation that he continue his explorations along the coast to the east. Impatient for approval of his plans, he left the Red River Colony in June 1840 and set out for the Minnesota River where he could obtain passage to England. According to his companions he became increasingly paranoid and, according to witnesses, eventually shot two of his companions and then himself. The authorities ruled the deaths a murder-suicide. During his absence he had been awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s gold medal and the British Government had announced a pension for him of 100 pounds a year. Instead, he was disgraced and buried in an unmarked grave in Canada. Vihjalmur Stefansson included the story in his 1938 book //Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic.//((“Thomas Simpson (explorer).” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Simpson_(explorer) ))
	
Dease and Simpson’s report included a description of the Colville River and commented on the wealth of the fur in the area thereby stimulating HBC interest in further explorations west of the Rocky and the Richardson Mountains.((Ken Coates, "The Northern Yukon: A History." Parks Canada, 8 August 1979: 12, 14 -15.))