John Hampton

Hampton

John Stephen Hampton (* around 1806 or 1810  ? † December 2, 1869 in Hastings , England ) was a British doctor, colonial administrator and governor of the British colony of Western Australia from 1862 to 1868 .

Life

Little is known of Hampton's early years. So not even his year of birth is determined; while his death certificate mentions the year 1810, other evidence suggests a year of birth 1806 or 1807. In September 1828 he was awarded a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh . Half a year later he entered the Royal Navy with the rank of surgeon mate . He was later transferred to Plymouth , where he devoted himself to fighting cholera . In 1834 he was appointed full medical officer ( surgeon ). From 1841 he served on convict transports to Tasmania . In March 1843 he was promoted to Surgeon Superintendent ; This post was reserved for convict ships, where, in addition to maintaining general health, it included the command over the prisoners and all other non-maritime-related areas.

In May 1846 he was given the post of supreme overseer of the convicts in Tasmania ( Comptroller-general ). During his tenure, reports of inhumane treatment and corruption were frequently published in the local press, which in 1855 required the Tasmanian parliament to set up a commission of inquiry into the matter. Because Hampton refused to testify before the commission, an arrest warrant was issued against him. However, local police refused to arrest Hampton because they questioned the legality of the warrant. For his part, Hampton applied to leave Tasmania due to illness, which he was eventually allowed to do. From 1857 to 1859, Hampton stayed in Canada for reasons unknown . In its final report, the commission of inquiry came to the conclusion that Hampton was guilty of corruption, among other things by personally benefiting from the forced labor of convicts.

Despite this matter, Hampton was appointed governor of Western Australia in 1861. After arriving in Australia the following year, he exerted significantly more influence on the supervision of convicts than his predecessors. From December 1862 to 1863 he himself headed the prison administration. In 1866 he appointed his son George Essex Comptroller-general . During his tenure, the sentences for prisoners became increasingly draconian; so convicts were whipped more often, and he reintroduced solitary confinement. In the years 1866 and 1867 there were then more attempts by convicts to escape. On the other hand, Hampton managed to reorganize the budget of the colony, which was almost bankrupt when he took office, and to complete the governor's estate and various public buildings.

After his tenure ended, Hampton returned to England in November 1868, where he died a year later.

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• Peter Boyce: Hampton, John Stephen (1810-1869) . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Volume 1. Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1966. 2nd revised edition 1977, ISBN 0-522-84121-X (English).