Labour Australia

Aaron Hampton (c.1826-1896) railway labourer and railway sub-inspector

Birth: about 1826 at Aldingbourne, Sussex, England, son of Thomas Hampton (1789-1866), agricultural labourer, and Ruth, née Booker (1790-1869). Marriage: 1848 at Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, England, to Charlotte Adair (1829-1897). They had two daughters and seven sons, three of whom died in childhood. Death: 6 April 1896 at Waratah, New South Wales. Religion: Anglican. 

• In 1849 he was a labourer at Bedworth, County of Warwich, and in 1851 was a railway labourer at Bromley, Middlesex, England.
• Described as an ‘excavator’ he was brought to NSW as an assisted immigrant to work on the construction of the Great Northern railway line. Arrived on 28 June 1855 aboard the Libertas, with his wife and eldest daughter. According to his immigration documents he could neither read nor write, though Charlotte and Ruth could do both.
• He resided at the Sand Hills, near Hexham, Newcastle, in May 1858 when his eldest son died.
• Retired as sub-inspector in October 1890. He was presented with an address, a gold albert, sovereign purse and locket in appreciation of his thirty-three years’ service as an officer of the department of railways.
• His sons Aaron and Arthur Henry Hampton were prominent in the Labour movement.