John Kirkpatrick (6 July 1892 – 19 May 1915), commonly known as John Simpson, was a stretcher bearer with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance during the Gallipoli campaign – the Allied attempt to capture Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, during the First World War.

After the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, Simpson used donkeys to provide first aid and carry wounded soldiers to the beach, from where they could be evacuated. He continued this work for three and a half weeks – often under fire – until he was killed by machine-gun fire during the third attack on Anzac Cove. Simpson and his donkey have become part of the Anzac legend.

Simpson was born on 6 July 1892 in Eldon Street, Tyne Dock, South Shields, County Durham, England, to Scottish parents: Sarah Kirkpatrick (née Simpson) and Robert Kirkpatrick. He was one of eight children, and worked with donkeys as a youth, during summer holidays. He attended Barnes Road Junior School and later Mortimer Road Senior School.

At 16, he volunteered to train as a gunner in the Territorial Force, as British Army reserve units were known at the time, and in early 1909 he joined the British merchant navy.

In May 1910, Simpson deserted his ship at Newcastle, New South Wales, and travelled widely in Australia, taking on various jobs, such as cane-cutting in Queensland and coal mining in the Illawarra district of New South Wales. In the three or so years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War, he worked as a steward, stoker and greaser on Australian coastal ships.

Simpson held, or developed, left wing political views while he worked in Australia, and wrote in a letter to his mother: "I often wonder when the working men of England will wake up and see things as other people see them. What they want in England is a good revolution and that will clear some of these Millionaires and lords and Dukes out of it and then with a Labour Government they will almost be able to make their own conditions." According to former union leader Alf Rankin, there is anecdotal evidence that Simpson belonged to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), a radical international labour union, although that has never been confirmed by historical documents or other sources.

Simpson enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force after the outbreak of war, apparently as a means of returning to England. He enlisted as "John Simpson", and may have dropped his real surname to avoid being identified as a ship deserter. Simpson enlisted as a field ambulance stretcher bearer, a role only given to physically strong men, on 23 August 1914 at Swan Barracks, Francis Street, in Perth, and undertook training at Blackboy Hill Training Camp. He was assigned to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance and the regimental number 202.

Simpson landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915 with the 3rd Field Ambulance as part of the 1st Australian Division. In the early hours of the following day, as he was bearing a wounded comrade on his shoulders, he spotted a donkey and quickly began making use of it to carry his fellow soldiers. Simpson would sing and whistle, seeming to ignore the bullets flying through the air, while he tended to his comrades.