J. P. Simpson photographs

"My great grandfather, James Parker Simpson, was born in July 1841 in Leeds, Yorkshire. As a young man he returned north to the county town of Northumberland, Alnwick, the county of his forebears and started a grain merchanting business in the town in 1866. By 1872 he had purchased a piece of land at Greenbatt Alnwick and built his first maltings. During the next twenty years his business flourished supplying malt to the local breweries in the North of England. At the time of his death in 1897 his maltings stretched from Darlington in the South to the Borders of Berwick upon Tweed in the North -- eight maltings in total. It was in 1888 under doctor''s orders that he made the trip for the winter in Egypt."