Family and Education

b. c.1653, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Hampson, 2nd Bt., of Taplow by Mary, da. and coh. of Sir Anthony Dennys of Orleigh, Devon. unm. suc. fa. 22 May 1670.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Bucks. 1673-80, 1689-90; j.p. Bucks. 1675-?1702, Oxon. 1700-?2; dep. lt. Bucks. 1680-?1702, Oxon. 1701-2; capt. of militia horse, Bucks. 1680-at least 1697, sheriff 1683-4; freeman, Chipping Wycombe 1684, alderman 1685-?Oct. 1688; freeman, New Windsor 1685.2

Biography

Hampson was the great-grandson of a London Merchant Taylor. His grandfather, who bought Taplow in 1635, tried to avoid involvement in the Civil War, but his estates were plundered by both sides. Accused of delinquency in 1647, he was not finally cleared until 1650. Hampson’s father, still a student when hostilities began, was an unsuccessful candidate for Oxford in 1660.3

Hampson was a strong Tory and a high Anglican who harried the Quakers. In May 1683 he broke up a meeting at Wooburn, and sent 23 men to prison, directing that they should be indicted for riot. He was returned in 1685 for Wycombe, some ten miles from Taplow, apparently on the corporation interest, but left no trace on the records of James II’s Parliament. He consented to the repeal of the Penal Laws and Test Acts, but declared that he would not trust fanatics. Yet he accepted the Revolution, took the oath of allegiance to William and Mary in 1689 and consequently continued to hold local office. He is not known to have stood again. He sold Taplow about 1700, and was buried at St. Sepulchre’s, Holborn, on 10 Apr. 1719. His affairs were involved, letters of administration being granted to a creditor. A cousin inherited the baronetcy, but no other member of the family sat in Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: Leonard Naylor / Geoffrey Jaggar

Notes

• 1. Vis. Bucks. (Harl. Soc. lviii), 71-2; Lipscomb, Bucks. iii. 303.
• 2. J. Parker, Wycombe, 56; CSP Dom. 1679-80, p. 439; 1685, p. 45; Eg. 1626, f. 5; First Hall Bk. (Windsor Hist. Recs. i), 48.
• 3. Beaven, Aldermen of London, i. 131; ii. 46; VCH Bucks. iii. 242; Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 154-6; Oxford Council Acts (Oxf. Hist. Soc. xcv), 255-6; Bath mss, Thynne pprs. 12, ff. 162-3.
• 4. Quaker Minute Bk. (Bucks. Rec. Soc. i), 125; W. Le Hardy, Bucks. Sess. Recs. i. 287; VCH Bucks. iii. 242; Prob. 6/95/69.