History Of Simpsons Hotel

Simpsons History – “if stones could speak”

Built in 1879, the original Memorial Hospital dedicated to Sir James Young Simpson - a splendid building, now transformed into a modern, very appealing, central yet quietly located 3 star Edinburgh city hotel with 52 modern comfortable bedrooms each with a little individual character and all the facilities you can expect in a quality hotel. 

The Maternity Hospital opened in 1879 as Edinburgh's first planned maternity hospital building, and was preceded by the General Lying in Hospital (1793) and its variously named successors. It was funded by a collection to commemorate Sir James Young Simpson's contribution to obstetrics. The first ante-natal clinic in Britain began there in 1915; and a post-natal clinic followed in 1926, the same year it amalgamated with the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion opened in 1939. From 1939 the "Simpson" was directly managed by the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh as one of its grouped hospitals and became part of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh National Health Service Trust in 1994.

In 1998 it came back with a different kind of hospitality opening its doors as a hotel 120 years after it had opened as a hospital.