Sergeant Harry Hampton VC

On 21 Aug 1900, at Van Wyk’s Vlei, Sergeant Hampton, who was in command of a small party of Mounted Infantry, held an important position for some time against heavy odds, and when compelled to retire saw all his men to safety, and then, although wounded in the head, supported the wounded Lance-Corporal Walsh, until Walsh was wounded again and apparently killed. Sgt Hampton was wounded again a short time later.
Harry Hampton was born in Richmond, Surrey, on 14 Dec 1870. He enlisted with the 1st Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment at Aldershot on 10 Mar 1889. He served in the West Indies and Nova Scotia and in the Boer War where he was at the Defence of Ladysmith and at Waggon Hill. He was presented with the Victoria Cross by King Edward VII on 17 Dec 1901.
He rose to the rank of Colour-Sergeant and was a Sergeant Instructor of musketry. After his discharge he lived in Richmond and became a Grocery Manager. He was not fit enough to serve in the Great War, and he sustained a leg injury falling from a bus. This may have caused him, some years later, to stumble on the platform at St Margaret’s Station, and tragically fall in front of a train. He died on 2 November 1922 and was buried in Richmond Cemetery after a funeral attended by the mayor and thousands of people.
The photo shows him in the uniform of a Colour-Sergeant with officer-style forage cap which is blue with a red cap band and regimental badge on the front. His waist-belt has white leather sword slings as his rank entitled him to have a sword. He has the VC and a Queen’s South Africa medal with three clasps.

Regimental Details | Soldiers