On August 21, 1900, Sergeant Hampton was in command of a
party of mounted infantry at Van Wyk's Vlei, and had been
holding an important position for a considerable time against
very heavy odds. They were at length compelled to retire, but he
saw all his men safely into cover before he would leave, and
then, although himself severely wounded in the head, went to the
assistance of Lance-Corporal Walsh, who was too badly injured to
keep up with the rest, and supported him until the man was
killed by another shot, he himself receiving a second wound
shortly after. Sergeant Hampton, son of Mr.
Samuel Hampton, of Crown Terrace, Richmond, Surrey, was born at
that place December 14, 1870. Entered the 1st Batt. King's
Liverpool Regiment at Aldershot, March 10, 1889, rising to the
rank of Corporal in exactly two years. Saw service in the West
Indies and Nova Scotia from 1891 to 1897, and in South Africa
from the latter year till almost the close of the war. His
Commanding Officers on the day he won the Victoria Cross were
Brevet-Major C. J. Steavenson and Major (now Colonel Sir) H. K.
Stewart, K.C.B., and the decoration was presented to him by H.M.
the King at St. James' Palace in December, 1901.
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