John Stephen Hampton (c. 1806 – 1 December 1869) was

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

from 1862 to 1868.

Early life

Little is known of John Hampton's early life. His death certificate states that he was born in 1810, but other evidence suggests 1806 or perhaps 1807; these latter figures are considered more likely. He undertook medical studies at

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, graduating with a diploma of medicine in September 1828. He was appointed an assistant

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Speciali ...

with the ''Britannia'', but shortly afterwards was transferred to the ''Sphinx''. In 1832 he was attached to the

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

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, where he worked to prevent the spread of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

. He later served on the ''Savage'', the ''Firebrand'' and finally the ''Portland''. In December 1834 he was promoted to full surgeon, and in March 1843 became

surgeon-superintendent A surgeon-superintendent was a position, held by a surgeon officer of the Royal Navy, on board convict transport ship and ships transporting indentured labour, with overall authority in all non-nautical matters. Before 1792, authority over convi ...

. Between 1841 and 1845, Hampton was surgeon-superintendent on a series of convict ships to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

: the ''Mexborough'', the ''Constant'' and the ''Sir George Seymour''.

Comptroller General of Convicts in Tasmania

Having served well on a number of convict ships to Van Diemen's Land, Hampton was appointed Comptroller-General of Convicts in Van Diemen's Land in May 1846. He arrived at the colony on 27 October 1846. During his time in the office, allegations of inhumanity and corruption were frequently published in the press. In 1855, the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, H ...

established a select committee to look into the allegations. Hampton was summonsed to appear in the House for questioning, but refused. The House then found him guilty of

contempt Contempt is a pattern of attitudes and behaviour, often towards an individual or a group, but sometimes towards an ideology, which has the characteristics of disgust and anger. The word originated in 1393 in Old French contempt, contemps, ...

and issued a warrant for his arrest, but both the police

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and the local

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

refused to help arrest him. Hampton eventually wrote a letter to the Council, in which he agreed to remain under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

until the legality of the warrant had been established. The Council refused to accept this proposal, but a political crisis was averted when the

Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...

Fox Young appointed a judicial tribunal to pronounce on the legality of the warrant, then prorogued

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. While the tribunal was still sitting, Hampton obtained a leave of absence on grounds of ill health, and left the colony. The tribunal eventually returned a decision that the warrant was not legal. The Tasmanian Legislative Council then appealed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

's judicial committee, who again found in Hampton's favour. Eventually the inquiry proceeded with evidence from Hampton. The final report presented findings that Hampton had engaged in corrupt practices, including the employment of convict labour for personal profit. Not much is known of the next five years of Hampton's life. He took no government service, spending some of the time in

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, Ontario, Canada on "urgent private affairs".

Governor of Western Australia

In 1861, Hampton was appointed

. He arrived in the colony the following year, and immediately took far more direct control of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

convict establishment Fremantle Prison, sometimes referred to as Fremantle Gaol or Fremantle Jail, is a former Australian prison and World Heritage Site in Fremantle, Western Australia. The site includes the prison cellblocks, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages ...

than had his predecessors. He imposed a far stricter regime than in the past, with increased use of

flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

as a punishment, and the reintroduction of

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

. Hampton constantly quarrelled with the Comptroller General of Convicts and in 1866 he had him removed. Hampton then appointed his son

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to act in the position. George Hampton had no particular qualifications for the position, and already held a number of other salaried positions. This "unusually blatant act of nepotism" ¹ was extremely unpopular within the colony, and was compounded when Hampton approved his son a living allowance, to which he was entitled but did not need since he lived in

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

. Thereafter, both Hamptons became figures of public hostility and ridicule within the colony. The Government of Western Australia was in acute debt when Hampton took over as governor. He immediately imposed strict cost-cutting measures, including using convict labour instead of contract labour whenever possible. Within a year the colony had recovered from its financial problems, and a few years later was on a firm financial footing. His sound financial management endeared him to the Colonial Office, and went some way to alleviating his unpopular public image. His vigorous

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

program also met with strong approval by the colonists. It is not known whether Hampton sought a second term as governor. On the expiry of his term in November 1868, he returned to England on the ''Emily Smith''. His wife died shortly after their arrival in England, and Hampton himself lived only until 1 December 1869.

Legacy

John Hampton has Hampton Park Primary School and Hampton Senior High School named after him.

Notes

# de Garis (1981), page 302

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, John Stephen 1869 deaths Convictism in Australia Convictism in Western Australia Governors of Western Australia Year of birth uncertain Colony of Western Australia people Royal Navy Medical Service officers