Hugh Dykes Simpson [also known as H.D. Simpson] was born in Invernessshire, Scotland in 1876. He was articled to Thomas Smellie in Kilmarnock from 1890 to 1898, during which time he studied at Kilmarnock School of Science and Art. After working as an assistant to Hippolyte Jean Blanc (1844-1917) in Edinburgh in 1898-99, he returned to Smellie as his assistant until 1905. From 1905 to c.1911 he worked as an assistant in the office of Alexander Cullen (1856-1911), James Lochhead (1870-1942) and William Brown (1873-1953) of Cullen, Lochhead & Brown in Hamilton, Scotland. In 1911 Simpson was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA).
A drawing of a design for a dining room by Simpson is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1907 (opposite p.66), and a drawing showing a design for a billiard room wall in a coast house by Simpson is featured in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1908 (illustration B150). Simpson was engaged on a number of architectural projects while working as an assistant, including the village asylum in Bangour, Uphall (1898), churches in Paisley, Coatridge, Kilmarnock, Coatribidge and Hamilton, (1898-1908), and Blackpool Central Library and Art Gallery (1910). He taught building construction in Kilmarnock and Irvine between 1897-1901. He also lectured on architecture at Hamilton Technical College from 1905. Simpson exhibited one work at the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1905.
He emigrated to Canada and by 1914 was practising in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001