Life

He was the only child of Thomas Hamper of West Tarring, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, and his wife Elizabeth Tyson, born at Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 on 12 December 1776. Both parents died in 1811, and were buried in the churchyard of King's Norton Worcestershire. William was brought up in his father's business as a brassfounder, and to extend it he travelled widely.

In 1811 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

. In 1817 he became a correspondent of the Society of Antiquaries

Society of Antiquaries

Society of Antiquaries can refer to:*Society of Antiquaries of London*Society of Antiquaries of Scotland*Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne*Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland...

, and was elected a Fellow on 5 April 1821. He died suddenly at Highgate, Birmingham

Highgate, Birmingham

Highgate is an area of Birmingham, England. Following the Big City Plan of February 2008, Highgate is now a district of Birmingham City Centre. This area is regarded as the site of the original Anglo-Saxon settlement which gave the city of Birmingham its name....

, on 3 May 1831, and was buried with his parents. Monuments to their memory are also in King's Norton churchyard.

Works

He began his literary career by contributing poems to the Gentleman's Magazine the first being ‘The Beggar-Boy,’ 1798, p. 794, which was signed ‘H. D. B.,’ the initial letters of Hamper, Deritend, Birmingham. The best known of these was ‘The Devil's Dike, a Sussex Legend’, which was reprinted in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 guide-books. From 1804 to 1812 he sent the same periodical views and descriptions of English churches and other buildings of antiquity. About the same time he composed and published, under the name of ‘Repmah,’ an anagram of Hamper, some songs and airs.

Hamper was well versed in Anglo-Saxon and mediæval latinity, and was an accurate facsimilist. John Nichols

John Nichols (printer)

John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...

 in his ‘History of Leicestershire,’ George Ormerod

George Ormerod

George Ormerod was an English antiquary and historian. Amongst his writings was a major account of the history of Cheshire, a county in northwestern England.-Biography:...

 in ‘Cheshire,’ William Bray

William Bray (antiquary)

-Life:Bray was the fourth and youngest son of Edward Bray of Shere in Surrey, who married Ann, daughter of Rev. George Duncomb. When ten years old he was entered Rugby School. On leaving school he was placed with an attorney, Mr...

 in ‘Surrey,’ and Edmund Cartwright in ‘Sussex’ acknowledged help from him, and he gave assistance to the anonymous author of ‘Kenilworth Illustrated,’ 1821.

Hamper published two separate works:

• ‘Observations on certain Ancient Pillars of Memorial called Hoar-Stones, to which is added a conjecture on the Croyland Inscription,’ Birmingham, 1820; a pamphlet. The materials which he had collected for an enlarged edition were inserted in ‘Archæologia,’ xxv. 24–60.
• ‘The Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale’ (1827); pt. ii. of the appendix, consisting of an index to the manuscript collections of Dugdale, was issued separately in 1826. This was Hamper's major work.

For many years Hamper was engaged in preparing a new edition of Dugdale's ‘Antiquities of Warwickshire,’ and collected vast materials. His copy of that volume, with manuscript additions, went to the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

. At the sale of his library the firm of Beilby, Knott, & Beilby acquired his notes for a distinct history of Aston and Birmingham. His copy of William Hutton's ‘Birmingham,’ interleaved and covered with annotations, went to Alderman Avery of Birmingham, and a mass of his letters and manuscripts was in the Staunton Warwickshire collection, which was purchased and presented to the corporation reference library at Birmingham. These were burnt, but many of his letters had been copied and printed in the notes and queries column of the ‘Birmingham Weekly Post.’

Hamper edited a volume of ‘Masques performed before Queen Elizabeth. From a coeval copy, Chiswick, 1820,’ which he (wrongly) attributed to George Ferrers

George Ferrers

George Ferrers was a courtier and writer. In an incident which arose in 1542 while he was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in the Parliament of England, he played a key role in the development of parliamentary privilege.-Life:...

; and he printed for private circulation in 1822 ‘Two Copies of Verses on the Meeting of Charles the First and Henrietta Maria, in the Valley of Kineton, below Edge-Hill, July 13, 1643,’ which were preserved in manuscript among Dugdale's papers. Many of his communications on rings, seals, and runic inscriptions appeared in ‘Archæologia,’ vols. xix–xxv. Notes by him on books are inserted in Thomas Frognall Dibdin

Thomas Frognall Dibdin

Thomas Frognall Dibdin , English bibliographer, born at Calcutta, was the son of Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of Charles Dibdin....

's ‘Bibliomania’ (1876, ed.) pp. 117, 529, and in his ‘Bibliographical Decameron,’ iii. 253–4.

From 1812 to 1831 he was an intimate friend and correspondent of John Britton

John Britton (antiquary)

-Early life:Britton was born on 7 July 1771 at Kington St. Michael, near Chippenham. His parents were in humble circumstances, and he was left an orphan at an early age. At sixteen he went to London and was apprenticed to a wine merchant. Prevented by ill-health from serving his full term, he found...

, whom he aided in compiling the ‘Beauties of England and Wales,’ and the ‘Dictionary of Architecture and Archæology in the Middle Ages.’ A list of 140 ways of spelling Birmingham, drawn up by Hamper, appears in John Alfred Langford's ‘Century of Birmingham Life.’

Family

He married at Ringwood

Ringwood

Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, on 7 November 1803, Jane, youngest daughter of William Sharp of Newport, Isle of Wight

Newport, Isle of Wight

Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...

, a politician and literary student. She died on 6 June 1829, leaving three daughters.