Held at:	Private Collection
Reference:	LD_rs_0007
Source:	Original document
Title:	The Hamp family and litigation concerning the Bacton Estate
Place name:	Bacton
Date:	1800s

Description:

Guest Contribution Introduction:

This research paper, outlining the genealogy of the Hamp family of Bacton and the litigation over the ownership of the Bacton Estate in the mid 1800s, has been written by James Gunn. It is reproduced here with the author’s kind permission.

Ewyas Lacy Study Group

 

THE HAMP STORY

On 31st of July 1868 a Private Act of Parliament was passed, spelling out in great detail the Compromise that had been reached between members of the Hamp family and the several other interested parties over the division of the settled estates of Francis Hamp, who had died 19 years earlier in 1849.

Who were all these Hamps, and how had they managed to get themselves into this situation? And what did it all mean to them and their children?

It is a story that really requires a gifted writer to fill in the personalities of the actors, and to bring to life all their emotions and actions. However this is intended to be a strictly factual account to establish what actually happened. I hope it will not be too dry and dull.

THE HAMPS

I do not know the origin of the Hamps: they are, to judge from the telephone directory, concentrated in the counties of Northants, Leicestershire and Oxford. Of the 116 listed in Britain, 70% live in these and the adjoining counties.

The name, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Surnames, is of German origin, being a diminutive of Hamprecht, which in turn is a corruption of Hagenburht, meaning Hawthorn-Bright. Other versions of the name are Hampe, Hempel and Hempe. Several Hamps live in Germany, and there are 12 in the Vienna telephone directory.

There is a village near Bridgewater called Hamp, the name being derived from Ham, a water meadow. There is also a river named Hamps in Staffordshire near Ashbourne; this is derived from an Old English word meaning a stream that dries up in summer (which the Hamps river does by disappearing down a swallow hole).

How the Hamps got to the Midlands of England can only be conjecture, but perhaps they came over with the Angles and Saxons.

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The Hamp family we are interested in was settled in Walton on Trent, near Burton, by the late 16th Century, the first one to be recorded being Thomas, who died there in 1659.His name was spelled Ampe in the parish register. His son, also Thomas, and two grandsons were churchwardens, and Thomas described himself as 'Yeoman' in his will, as did his great grandson, yet another Thomas. However, the Francis and Thomas who died respectively in 1784 and 1792 both described themselves as ‘Gentleman’ in their wills which show them to have been substantial persons of property.

As the reader will have noticed the same names recur constantly in the Hamp family - as in others - the name Francis in particular. Moreover there are several (female) Frances's, and as the central character was also Francis, he will from here on be referred to as ‘the Hamp’.

THE HAMP

The Hamp was born to Thomas and Ann, nee Pratt, in 1786, and was followed by 3 sisters and a brother, 3 of whom died young and whose deaths are recorded on tombstones in the church yard at Walton. His sister Mary died unmarried in Lichfield in 1863, and was the Hamp's 'right' or legitimate heir until then.

Thomas Hamp died in 1792 when his son was not yet 6, so that the Hamp not only grew up without a father, but as the only son, inherited all his father's real estate and the residue of his personal estate when he became 21 in 1807. This would have been a substantial inheritance: his sisters would each have received £3,000 from his personal estate had they lived - a considerable sum at that time -  and Mary left 'under £20,000' when she died.

In addition to the land they owned, the Hamps were tenants of other land in and around Walton. The Hamp's uncle Francis was a tenant at Catton Hall, some 3 miles south of Walton and the home of the Horton family.

The widow of Christopher Horton, who was described by Horace Walpole as 'having the most amorous eyes in the world', bigamously married George Ill's son Frederick, Duke of Cumberland - an event which led to the Royal Marriage Act. It is important to remember that the Hamp grew up in very permissive times, and not to judge him by Victorian - or present day - moral standards.

The world into which the Hamp was born was one of great change and opportunity. England had just lost one Empire in America and was in the process of gaining another in India. The French, who had lost Canada to England in 1759, were soon to start their Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars would last until the Hamp was 29.

The Industrial Revolution was gathering pace, and nearby Burton was becoming a major centre for the Brewery industry. It is not surprising that a young man of enterprise, inheriting a considerable property in 1807, should prefer to take his chances away from farming the lands of his fathers. Indeed, banking may have been in his blood since the Thomas Hamp who died in 1688 appears to have lent money on bond, and in his will left his son to collect the debt.

One of the essential ingredients of the Industrial Revolution was the provision of capital and many small banks opened outside London as part of the process - they grew from 150 in 1776 to 350 in 1800 and 430 in 1833. I do not know the steps which led the Hamp into banking, but he certainly became very successful and the Hereford Journal of 4th April 1849 reported the death of 'the opulent banker of Bacton Villa'.

He was a partner of Hoskins, Morgan, Hamp and Morgan of Hereford, and of Morgan, Hoskins, Hamp and Morgan of Ross and when he died his estate was valued for tax at £45,000. This figure probably excludes much of his settled estate which totalled about 3200 acres (as listed in the Hamp Act in 1868). Lot 1 - the Bacton estate - was sold to William Laslett for £54,907, and the total proceeds probably amounted to around £90,000.

The Hamp bought the Moorhampton estate, which included Bacton, from the 'Hoskyns' family in 1828, and it may be that the banking Hoskins was of the same family. As land was probably worth over £50 per acre it seems likely that the Hamp did not own all the land outright and that some of it was mortgaged.

Whatever the details, the Hamp was a rich man when he died and the disposal of his property was a matter of some importance. Unfortunately it was much complicated by his private life. Although unmarried, he had had two mistresses and produced 3 sons and 1 daughter.

AMY ADAMS

His first mistress was Amy Adams, and the baptismal records of Stapenhill parish, across the river Trent from Burton, record on 21 September 1821 the baptism of 'Francis Hamp spurious son of Amy Adams, Stapenhill'. So who was Amy Adams and how might they have met?

The Hamp family owned land in the direction of Burton, but in any case it was the nearest town to the Hamps home in Walton. It has been suggested that Amy was connected with a William Adams of Ludlow, an Attorney and M.F.H. I have traced William, but can find no connection between him and an Amy Adams.

The name 'Amy Adams' proves to be extremely rare, but there was one in Stapenhill who married a William Simnett in 1827, one of the witnesses being Mary Adams. I have not been able to find Amy's baptismal record, but Mary was baptised at Stapenhill on 14th September 1800, and was the daughter of William and Ann Adams of Newhall (near Stapenhill). It seems possible that Amy and Mary were sisters.

There is no proof that this Amy was the mother of Francis Hamp, but when Francis Hamp Adams was near the end of his life he wrote to his son, Francis Hamp Adams II, that his mother died reading a letter from him announcing his admittance as a Solicitor. He was admitted in 1843 and Amy Simnett died on 15th March 1846.

If this identification is correct it would appear that the Hamp had an affair with a local girl of no particular social standing, as a result of which she had a son, Francis. A few years later she married into another local family who were maltsters and brickmakers, and bore her husband 5 children. Perhaps the Hamp helped arrange the marriage.

SARAH ROBINSON

The next record I have found of the Hamp was in 1826 as the plaintiff at the Lent Assizes in a case of trespass at Donnington, near Stow on the Wold in Gloucestershire. He was described as 'a bachelor living with a Mary Robinson and their small child; she was pregnant at the time .

It seems virtually certain that the girl's name should have been Sarah since on 18th August 1834 Sarah Robinson's three children, Frances Sarah Hamp, John Hampden Hamp and William Henry Hamp were all baptised at Guiting Power, not far from Stow. She was described as 'housekeeper' of Castlett.

From the Census of 1851 we know that Frances Sarah and William Henry were born at Donnington and Castlett respectively, she in 1825 and he in 1830. It appears therefore that the Hamp forsook Amy Adams for Sarah Robinson by 1824 and it is of interest that the Hamp Act lists properties in Donnington and Castlett.

Who then was Sarah Robinson? One version, which has come from both Gwennie Manley and Clare Margaret Hunter, says that she was a daughter of the Robinson's of Poston Court, near Vowchurch - a few miles from Bacton. It so happens that Lindsey Hunter married Richard Baxendale who is related to the Robinsons of Poston and his brother, Tom, has made a study of the Hamp litigation.

The Robinson of Poston lineage is set out in Burke's Landed Gentry and the only person who could possibly have been 'our' Sarah Robinson is the un-named daughter of Alexander Ramsay Robinson of Sheffield House, Kensington, superintendent of the Royal farms at Kew and Windsor. Unfortunately she is not recorded in the Kensington parish register, although her elder brother is, so we do not know her name.

Her brother Thomas married the heiress of Poston in 1824 so she could have come to Herefordshire for the wedding. However it seems unlikely that the Hamp had arrived in Bacton by this time.

Another factor that weighs against this version is that the Hamp married Sarah to his bailiff, James Bolt, and although James Bolt's brothers both described themselves as 'gentlemen' when proving his will, it would not seem tactful to marry off one's mistress to one's bailiff if she came from a neighbouring landed family - even if she had been disowned by them.

So if Sarah was not a Robinson of Poston, who was she? Neither she, nor any of her children who might possibly have known, have left us a clue. The only one I can find is the fact that the Hamp owned land in Donnington and Castlett, and that this may be connected with Sarah's home because her children were born there and she lived there with the Hamp for several years.

Unfortunately Sarah Robinson is a common name and although a person of that name was baptised in Donnington in 1812 she does not fit the other known facts about Sarah. There was another in Great Harrington, a few miles to the south of Stow, who was baptised on 13th October 1811 and who could be 'our’ Sarah. If so, her parents were Thomas and Martha.

The problem is not helped by the fact that her tombstone gives her age as 40 when she died in 1850, but her marriage certificate states that she was 38 in 1839. So she could have been born at any date between 1801 and 1810. As her first child was born in 1825, she was probably born before 1808.

It seems unlikely that the answer will ever be found unless by chance. According to the 1841 census she was not born in Herefordshire, and my guess is that she probably came from Gloucestershire.

Whatever their origins, the Hamp must have chosen his ladies for their looks and personalities - and in the long run these are more important than social standing.

THE HAMP'S WILL

The Hamp made his Will on 6th November 1839, when he was 53 and still had 10 years to live. It was 2 weeks after he had married the mother of his children to his bailiff, and when they were still children. Perhaps he was becoming respectable in his old age or was about to become a magistrate. He was, at any rate, a substantial squire.

The main points of it were:-

l. His 2 natural (Robinson) sons could raise annuities of £300 as marriage settlements chargeable to the real estate

2. These 2 sons had power to charge up to £5000 to the real estate  and  the  executors  were  empowered  to  complete  the purchase  of  a certain real estate which he had contracted to purchase from Theophilus Preece of Michaelchurch Escley (the Maerdy in Walterstone).

3. He  left  2  annuities  to  Sarah  Bolt (£30  by will, £50  by codicil) whose age was noted as 45 in 1850.

4. He gave £5000 each to his daughter Sarah Frances and younger son William Henry from his   personal estate (or if insufficient, from the real estate),

5. The residue to his elder son John Hampden Hamp Robinson.

The settled estate was left in tail male to his natural son, John Hampden Hamp and his male issue, failing which it passed to his other natural son, William Henry Hamp and his male issue, failing which it went to his 'right' heir who, at that time, was his sister Mary. When she died in 1863 it passed to his first cousin, John Hamp of Overseal, Leicestershire, who was also one of his executors and trustees.

In his will, the Hamp entirely ignored his eldest son, Francis Hamp Adams. However he does not seem to have totally forgotten him. In a revealing letter written in July 1890 to his eldest son, Francis Hamp Adams II, Francis Hamp Adams I says that his father sent for him when he was 16 in 1837 and articled him to Mr Collins in Ross. When his father died in 1849 he was 'set free'.

A Codicil was added to the Hamp' s will on 26th March 1849, the day before he died. Apart from increasing the annuity to Sarah Bolt he made some provision for his eldest son, leaving him his share in his banking interests.

The Hamp died at Bacton on 27th March 1849 and his will was proved on 23rd April 1850 by his executors, Revd Charles Proberts of Bacton and John Hamp of Overseal. However this was after Francis Hamp Adams had entered a caveat which he withdrew on receiving a mortgage for £12,000 on the estates from John Hampden. This mortgage gave him an interest in the management of the estate, and contact with his half brothers.

JOHN HAMPDEN HAMP

It was what happened next which caused all the trouble and the following is quoted from the Law Times reports of March 1867. " John Hampden Hamp (he dropped the Robinson on inheriting) attained his majority in 1849 and, plunging immediately into various kinds of expensive amusements, soon became involved in money difficulties. Francis H. Adams took possession of the rents of the estates under his mortgage, and made some advances to John H. Hamp.

In 1852 John H. Hamp married Frances Palmer, the daughter of a farmer living near Chichester, whose other daughter was married to a man named Turner. After his marriage, in consequence of money difficulties, John H. Hamp went from one part of the country to another, living frequently with Mr. and Mrs. Turner at Brecon, at Birmingham, at Shirley, and afterwards near Bacton. During that time he was arrested for debt and imprisoned in Hereford gaol.

In 1854 his wife was delivered of a stillborn child, and in 1857 she gave birth to another child named Francis, who died when a few months old. Mrs. Hamp received an allowance of £100 a-year from Francis H. Adams, being part of a jointure of £300 a year settled on her out of the mortgaged estates on her marriage. She continued to live with her sister, Mrs. Turner, and her sister's husband, her own husband being generally away from her.

In 1858 Mrs. Hamp and the Turners went to live in Bristol, and in 1859 to Birmingham, and subsequently Mrs. Hamp removed to a small house at Yardley, near Birmingham. On 17th January 1862 the infant plaintiff was born at a boarding house in Hill Street, Birmingham, kept by a Mrs. Jeffries and was baptised by the name Horatio.

In 1863 John H. Hamp and his wife again lived together, and a memorandum was signed between them that their past disagreement should be made up and Mr. Adams continued the allowance of £100 a year.

HAMP v HAMP

In 1864 John H. Hamp died of consumption, and Mrs. Hamp having entered on the estates was forcibly ejected from Bacton Villa by the defendant (William Henry Hamp) in the present action, on the ground that the child was a supposititious one, and not the legitimate offspring of John H. Hamp, and these circumstances led to the Chancery proceeding, in which an issue was directed to be tried by a common law jury as to the legitimacy of the infant plaintiff."

The case lasted 9 days and Bovill, C.J. in summing up said that " it was peculiarly desirable to have the case decided by a jury for the decision did not depend on any matter of law, but on a review of all the facts, coupled with the objects and motives by which the various parties were influenced. He believed they would have great difficulty in seeing upon what part of the evidence they could place reliance, for, wherever there was a fact or suggestion upon one side, it was met by a fact or counter suggestion upon the other and he did not, in his experience, remember a case where there were so many points of contradiction" .

The legal interest in the case concerned the question of what evidence was acceptable to prove that the child of a married woman was not legitimate, this being presumed until proved otherwise.

The jury was locked up for a very long time, being unable to agree, and were at length discharged without giving a verdict, owing to the serious illness of one of their number.

The lack of a clearcut decision on the legitimacy of Horatio meant that there could be no clearcut decision on who had what interest in the Hamp's settled estate. It had therefore to be settled by compromise.

There were many interested parties; besides William Henry and Horatio, Francis H. Adams had his mortgage, John Hamp had become the right heir, James Bolt was involved and so were many trustees and mortgagers. Some 15 people had to agree to the compromise which, in essence required that all the settled estate should be sold, expenses deducted, and the balance divided into three parts equally between William Henry, Horatio and John Hamp.

To confuse matters, John Hamp died in June 1868, just as the compromise was finalised, leaving a number of grandchildren, all of his sons having predeceased him. These grandchildren were now the 'right' heirs.

THE SALE

So the estate was sold and by the end of 1870 William Henry Hamp (the Robinson was dropped) and his wife and 16 year old daughter Mary Frances Elizabeth, were living in Upper Grange, James Bolt was farming Green Farm, and William Lazlett was in Bacton Villa, now called Manor.

It is not easy to discover where all the money went. Some went to the Lawyers - William Henry's costs were £3,500 - and some must have gone to repay mortgages. When William Henry died he left only £2,566, but he continued to receive an annuity and to have no profession.

Horatio and his mother seem to have disappeared with their share. Although I wrote to 35 of the 116 Hamps in England, none of them had heard of Horatio - or indeed of the Hamp litigation. Perhaps they dropped the name?

I have had no more luck in tracing the descendants of John Hamp of Overseal. He died before the estate was divided and his 3 sons were all dead, so that his share was divided between 2 or 3 grandsons.

FRANCIS HAMP ADAMS

Francis Hamp Adams will have received a share because of his £12,000 mortgage. However he had the misfortune of his Bank having to suspend payments on 13th March 1863 with a deficiency of £30,000.This was caused by the defalcation of a clerk in the Hereford bank over several years, starting perhaps in 1854. The clerk, named Fryer, was discovered in Barnet and arrested in September, 1863.

The Hereford office was the prime responsibility of Joseph Morgan, Francis Hamp Adams having only a partner's interest in its operation. He ran the Ross and Archenfield office. His wealth was declared as £24,650, and Morgan's at £6,000. Francis's interest in the life of John Hampden Hamp, who died the following year, was taken into account.

Francis H. Adams seems to have emerged from the crash with his reputation, if not his fortune, intact and he started to practice as a Solicitor in Ross the following year. In February, 1865 he was married at Bacton to Sarah Elizabeth Jones, and by 1884 they had produced a family of 7 sons and 4 daughters. They lived at Upton Bishop and Francis died there in 1899.

It seems that he never completely cleared all his debts as he wrote to his eldest son, Francis H. Adams II, in 1898 thanking him for arranging a composition with his creditors. He cannot have had an easy life, and in another letter to his son, written in July 1898, he says 'I often think of my mother' and 'my late father's name will not appear on my Birth certificate because of my illegitimacy, but that can affect no one but myself as I deprive no one of any property by means of it as it matters to no one by whom I was begotten’.

WILLIAM BAILEY PARTRIDGE

In the year after the sale of the Bacton estate William Bailey Partridge appeared as the fairy godfather to the Hamp Robinsons. He met William Henry Hamp's daughter once, and came back to propose marriage to her at their second meeting.

Mary Frances Elizabeth Hamp became 'the' Mrs. Partridge in September 1871 and between then and 1889 produced 9 children so that the families of uncle at Upton and niece at Bacton were the same age. They appear to have been on good terms and some of the Upton children were baptised at Bacton. Apparently Mrs Partridge paid for the education of Geoffrey Hamp Adams' son when Geoffrey died young, and the son's full names became Geoffrey Sugwas Cloete Hartleton Bacton Partridge Hamp Adams!

William Bailey Partridge owned a coal mine in Pontypool and they started their married life in Llanfoist. They moved to Bacton Green (or Grange) after James Bolt had died in 1872,or possibly after her father died in 1883. They greatly enlarged the house.

It was W.B. Partridge's ambition to recover all the Hereford estate lost by his wife's family, and by the time he died in 1909 he had virtually succeeded. The main estate was bought at the sale in 1868 by William Laslett,M.P., of Abberley Hall, Pershore. On his death it passed to his nephew, Colonel Bellers, and when he died in 1903 W.B. Partridge bought it back.

By coincidence, when Mrs. Partridge died in 1938, Bacton Grange and the main estate was bought by her grandson, Ivor Manley, and his son Dickie married the grand-daughter of Colonel Sellers, Jane Allin.

THE CHILDREN

The Hamp Adams went their separate ways; some stayed as solicitors in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire; some went to South Africa, some to Australia, and one to New York. They lost touch, and it was not until Felix started to write to his cousins, and visit Bacton, that contact was renewed. This was continued by Geoffrey's grandson, Peter, whose visit to Upton Bishop church led to renewal of the link with the Hamp Robinson descendants.

The Partridges were less scattered, but two sons were killed in wars. Two other sons married; the eldest, William Hamp, had a son, but he died without issue; and the youngest, Henry Francis, had two daughters. The elder daughter, Beryl,  married Eric Sexton and she now owns Bacton Manor (or Villa).Her elder daughter, also named Beryl but usually called Baba, lives there with her American husband, Joe Harron, and their son, Mark.

Four of the five daughters married; Mary had a handicapped son, Billy; Maud married Henry Randolph Trafford of Michaelchurch Court; Violet married Arthur Manley; and Dorothy married Robert Corbett-Winder and died as recently as 1985 at the age of 96.

The Partridge family were very keen horsemen and women and one of the highlights of their lives was when their horse, Sprig, won the 1928 Grand National. The Bacton Stud is run by Bruce Manley, so that the interest continues.

The Hamp Adams also have horse racing connections since Francis H. Adams III married Molly Scudamore whose nephew, Michael won the 1959 Grand National on Oxo, and his son Peter is currently Champion National Hunt jockey.

CONCLUSION

So how can one sum up all these events? Clearly the Hamp, whose portrait hangs at Bacton Manor, was a livewire at a time when British enterprise and power were at their height. It was a time of opportunity and the strong survived and won. By 1990 standards he treated his women badly, but by those of his age he looked after them pretty well and he acknowledged their children as his. He also provided for them, generously in the case of Sarah Robinson's children.

Francis Hamp Adams had the roughest deal. His mother was forsaken for another woman when he was only 2 or 3 years old and he was left to be brought up with an artisan's family. He clearly had a lot more sense than John Hampden Hamp and he comes through the litigation with credit. No doubt he learned wisdom early in life.

The villain is obviously John Hampden Hamp, who not only led a worthless life, wasting his inheritance, but he must have been a poor judge of people - not least of his wife. As a result he left his affairs in such a mess that his family lost its inheritance too.

But perhaps we should not forget that, even if he had passed his inheritance on to his brother, William Henry Hamp, the settled estate of Bacton would have passed to the grandson of John Hamp of Overseal because William Henry had no son.

And we would not be meeting at Bacton on 19th May, 1991.

HORATIO

Following the Hamp family gathering at Bacton on 19th May, 1991, I thought I should try harder to find out what happened to Horatio.

The first thing I discovered was his mother's Will. She died on 14th January 1878, 10 years after the Compromise, and when Horatio was 16, at Weston super Mare. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as 'Atrophy, Chronic dyspepsia, Anaemia' and one feels a twinge of sympathy for the life she must have led since she presented Horatio as the son of John Hampden Hamp.

Her death was reported by her sister, Ann Turner, of Lower Wilcroft, Hereford, who was also the sole executrix. The will was dated 7th February 1877 when her address was Lower Lugwardine. Horatio was not mentioned, and she left everything to her sister. Her estate amounted to 'under £1,500'.

On his mother's death Horatio required a new guardian who had to be appointed by the Court. James F. Symonds, Solicitor, of Hereford was appointed on 25 April, 1878, and £400 p.a. was allowed for maintenance and education, to be paid from the £25,779 3% Consols which were Horatio's portion of Capital from Hamp v Hamp. Dividends were to accrue on the £5,628 which was his portion of Income.

On May 9,1878, the Court decreed that the £10,000 3% Consols in the Annuity account - presumably for Horatio's mother - should be used to pay her legal expenses, etc. and the balance divided equally between the trustees of John Hamp (the 'right’ heir), William Henry Hamp, and Horatio.

Horatio came of Age in 1883 and there is an entry in the Orders and Decrees of the Court over some resulting payments which were authorised. In the following year his Trustees, now C.J. Etherington and W.E. Rea, were authorised to buy for £1,850 'The Laurels', Tilehurst, Reading. He was also allowed to spend £1,000 on furnishings and a further £1,000 on improvements.

In 1888, '89, '91 and '93 there are entries authorising his trustees to buy property in Hammersmith, Kilburn, Wandsworth, and Loughborough Junction, Surrey on his behalf, so it appears that he became a fairly substantial landlord.

When Horatio was 25, in 1887, Mr Justice Chitty, who had dealt with all the previous applications, appointed C.J. Etherington, Barrister, and W.E. Rea, Clerk in Legacy and Succession Duty at Somerset House, as Trustees of a Settlement which allowed Horatio greater control of his affairs, and the power of appointment over £2,000 for 'any wife surviving him'.

He did not marry until 23rd December 1892, when, as a 30 year old bachelor, he married a 30 year old spinster, Kate Isabel Todd in the Paddington Registry Office. He gave his occupation as Bank Manager, as also that of his father in law.

Horatio died on 21 May, 1902 when his address was 'The Cottage, Hurstmoncieux, Sussex', and he left effects worth £21,939.   By his Will, made in February 1897,he named his executors as his wife and his friend Simeon Charles Hayes of 16 Sydenham Road, Bristol.

He left all his plate, furniture and all other articles to his wife and directed that all his real estate should be realised. After a loan of £3,000 from S.C. Hayes was repaid he gave legacies of £4,000 to his wife and £3,000 to Hayes.

He then added that 'in case my wife dies before my natural son Horatio Daryl Hamp reaches the age of 21' he left £1,000 to Hayes to advance his son's career.

The Residue was to remain in a Trust fund for the benefit of his wife for her life, and then for Daryl if he attained 25.If she should die before Daryl, and he failed to live until he was 25, then Horatio left £5,000 'to my step daughter Ethel Muriel Craig, now known as Ethel Muriel Hamp’. Remainder was to S.C. Haines absolutely.

So Horatio's family relationships ended in as much of a muddle as they had begun. I have been unable to find any record of Daryl's birth - presumably it is registered under his mother's name, and there is no indication of what that was - nor any Will for either him or his mother up to 1969, nor either of their deaths up to 1914. As Daryl may well have emigrated, there is no certainty of finding a record of his death or marriage (if any); and his widow may well have remarried. She was quite a rich widow, and she did not lose her money if she remarried.

I fear, therefore, that this is where the Hamp Story has to end.

 

James Gunn: September 1991

Observations:

The Hamps were linked to the Traffords of Michaelchurch Court by the marriage of Bettina Maud Partridge to Henry Randolph Trafford in 1899. Bettina Maud’s mother was Mary Frances Elizabeth, daughter of William Henry Hamp, who had married William Bailey Partridge in 1871.