Art can change history by confronting the public with reality. One example is the work of William Simpson. Together with the Times correspondent William Howard Russel and Thomas Chenery, William Simpson's lithographs from the Crimean War (1853- 56) contributed to a re-evaluation of the modern war in the European public. As allies of the decaying Ottoman Empire, the British Empire and France tried to stop Russia's continental expansion and became embroiled in one of the bloodiest colonial wars of the 19th century. Since the victory over Napoleon, British troops were no longer involved in such a war and considerable weaknesses were evident in the organisation of supplies and the provision of troops with the help of modern logistical instruments. During the first battles the British expeditionary corps won victories against the tsarist army, but proved unable to treat the wounded in the material battles adequately. Many soldiers died during the transport to the central military hospital, sometimes lasting weeks.
William Simpson accompanied and documented the failure and mismanagement of the British military leadership and caused a turn in public opinion with the comments of the Times journalists. But Simpson's career was anything but predetermined. Born in Glasgow, he did not start school until the age of 11. With discipline and a sense of mission, he continued to work through evening studies and became an apprentice in a lithography company. The rise of this art form was closely linked to the development of the mass media. Newspapers, magazines and journals demanded images to illustrate the written word. In 1854 Simpson was commissioned to make lithographs of the Crimean War according to reports. He convinced his clients that only local reporting would have a mass impact. When he arrived in Crimea, he was overwhelmed by the scenes and the suffering of the ordinary soldiers, who were victims of violence, but above all of the failure and incompetence of their own commanders. The face of the war and the violence had not changed, but what made the difference were the technical possibilities of telegraphy and the mass press, which allowed the public to have a new experience of the war. The images of wounded left alone, of emergency transports, dirt, illness and death, complemented the reports of people like Florence Nightingale, who became an icon of humanity in the Crimean War.
With the reputation he earned as an illustrator of the Crimean War, Simpson received commissions from magazines to report on similar events and to create a portfolio after his return. The next target was again a colonial conflict in the British Empire. In India, British colonial troops crushed the so-called Sepoy uprising with the most brutal force. In 1868 he was part of the Ethiopia expedition, a punitive mission against African tribal chiefs who had killed English missionaries. After further work as a war correspondent in the Franco-Prussian War of 1866 and the second Afghan War, Simpson retired from public life.
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.jpg "The Emperor of Austria Ascending the Great Pyramid, Egypt by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Golden Temple, Benares by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Admiralty, Sebastopol, plate from")
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.jpg "Interior of the Mamelon Vert (plate from")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-197414).jpg "The Quarry Caverns, Jerusalem, 1869 by William Crimea Simpson")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-43591).jpg "Elephant Battery, 1864 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Street in Bombay, from")
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.jpg "The Admiralty, Sebastopol, 1856 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Mine of the Bastion du Mat (plate from")
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.jpg "The Chitpore Road, from")
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.jpg "A Doorway in Cairo, 1884 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Village Well, from")
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.jpg "Women Grinding Corn, from")
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.jpg "Second Charge of the Guards when they retook the Two Gun Battery at the Battle of Inkerman, engraved by Edmond Morin from The Seat of War in the East - First Series, published by Colnaghi by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Head of the Harbour, Sebastopol, plate from")
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.jpg "Interior of the Redan, Plate from")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-311408).jpg "The First Investiture of the Star of India by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Public Library and Temple of the Winds, plate from")
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.jpg "The Cave of Elephanta, from")
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.jpg "The Blessing of the Suez Canal, 1869 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Indigo Factory - Bengal, from")
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.jpg "The Maristan or Mosque-Hospital of Kalaun, Cairo by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Bahr el Khabeer or the Great Sea Rock-cut cistern under the site of Solomon")
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.jpg "Sebastopol from the Sea, plate from The Seat of War in the East by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Huts and Warm Clothing for the Army, plate from")
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.jpg "The Cavalry Affair of the Heights of Bulganak: the First Gun, plate from")
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.jpg "The Sealed Fountain by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Embarkation of the Sick at Balaklava, Plate from")
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.jpg "Ditch of the Bastion du Mat, plate from")
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.jpg "Charge of the Heavy Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava, 1854 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Oodypure, the Jugmunder Palace, from")
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.jpg "Public Library and Temple of the Winds, 1856 by William Crimea Simpson")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-432499).jpg "The River Chenab, Punjab, 1865 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Ambair, from")
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.jpg "The Field of Inkerman, 17 October 1854 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Charge of the Light Brigade under Major General the Earl of Cardigan, 1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Investiture of the Order of the Bath, plate from")
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_plate_from_The_Seat_of_War_in_the_East_published_-_(MeisterDrucke-309227).jpg "Russian Rifle Pit (Now British), Plate from")
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.jpg "The Lighthouse at Cape Chersonese, plate from")
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.jpg "Charge of the Light Brigade Under Major General the Earl of Cardigan, 1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-147590).jpg "Fallen Voussoir Robinson")
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.jpg "Salt Lake - Thibet, from")
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.jpg "A Quiet Night in the Batteries, plate from")
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.jpg "The Sacred Rock, Jerusalem by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Ditch of the Malakoff, plate from")
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.jpg "Interior of Fort Nicholas, Sebastopol, Crimea by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Built up doorway in East Wall of Haram, near Golden Gate by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Balaclava, 25th October 1854: The charge of the Light Brigade by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava, 25 October 1854 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Sentinel of the Zouaves, Plate from")
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.jpg "Peshawar Market Scene, from")
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.jpg "The Crimea: Panoramic View of Sebastopol Showing the Military Encampments and the Harbour; and a Panoramic View of Inkerman Showing a Military Encampment and Cavalry at Dawn by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Embarkation of the Sick at Balaklava, Plate from")
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.jpg "The Battle of Alma by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Highland Brigade Camp, Looking South by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Ganges, 1863 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854. The Charge of the Light Brigade by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Interior of the Redan Taken from Its Left Face by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Bahr El Khabeer on The Great Sea: rockcut cisterns under the site of Solomons Temple, 1870 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Galleries at Inkerman by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Indian Woman Floating Lamps on the Ganges, from")
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.jpg "Oodypure, from")
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.jpg "Straits of Yenikale, plate from")
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.jpg "Balaklava Looking Towards the Sea, 1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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_on_the_ward_from_-_(MeisterDrucke-361784).jpg "Hospital at Scutari, detail of Florence Nightingale on the ward, from The Seat of War in the East, pub. by Paul & Dominic Colnaghi & Co., 1856 (detail) by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "One of the Wards of the Hospital at Scutari, from")
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.jpg "Charge of the Heavy Cavalry Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava on 25th October 1854, Engraved by E. Walker, pub. 1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava, 1854 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "A Hot Night in the Batteries, plate from")
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.jpg "The Field of Inkerman, plate from")
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.jpg "Interior of Lord Raglan")
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.jpg "Parnassus and Helicon from Corinth by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Fallen Voussoir of Robinson")
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.jpg "Head of the Harbour, Sebastopol by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Boats on the Ganges, from")
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.jpg "The fall of Sevastopol and the retreat of the Russians, 8 September 1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-219667).jpg "The Gate of Huldah the Prophetess, Jerusalem, 1871 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "The Dewali or Festival of Lamps, from")
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.jpg "The Redan and the British trenches by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "A Hot Day in the Batteries, plate from")
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.jpg "Queen Victoria as an artist: Her Majesty sketching the Falls of Garrawalt, Braemar by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Temple of Minerva Sunium, Engraved by J. Saddler by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Lucknow, from")
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.jpg "Gale off the Port of Balaklava, November 14th 1854, plate from")
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.jpg "View of the Vorontsov")
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.jpg "Balaklava Showing the State of the Quays and the Shipping in May 1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Second Charge of the Guards at Inkerman, 5th November 1854, Plate from")
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.jpg "Neptune on Board the")
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.jpg "The Defence of Kars by William Crimea Simpson")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-249281).jpg "Passage Under the Aksa, 1871 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Second charge of the Guards, when they retook the two gun batteries at the Battle of Inkerman by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Burning Temple of the Winds by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Cape Aiya. Looking North Towards Balaklava by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Lord Raglan’s Quarters before Sebastopol, November 1854 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Balaklava, plate from")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-95165).jpg "The Plains, Landour Church, Mussoorie by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Malakoff or Round Tower, c.1855 by William Crimea Simpson")
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.jpg "Sebastopol from the Rear of Fort Nicholas, Plate from")
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.jpg "A Ward in the Hospital at Scutari, engraved by E. Walker, 1856 by William Crimea Simpson")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-578961).jpg "The Great Wall of China by William Crimea Simpson")
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