People Australia

Arthur Henry Hampton (1870-1916) boilermaker and trade union leader

Birth: 1870 at Newcastle, New South Wales, son of English-born parents Aaron Hampton (c1826-1896), a sub-inspector on the railways, from Aldingbourne, Sussex, and Charlotte, née Adair (1829-1897), from Leicestershire. Marriage: 14 April 1892 to native-born Elizabeth Leonard (1877-1949). They had one son and one daughter. Death: 21 March 1916 at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Religion: Anglican.

• Brother Aaron (1870-1901) was a prominent member of the Political Labor League.
• Boilermaker in NSW Railway Department. Joined Federated Boilermakers’ Society, 1891.
• Funeral Fund, Sydney, 1905, Adelaide, 1908. Secretary, Federated Boilermakers’ and Iron Ship Builders Society, Sydney Branch, 1912 to 1916. held various positions in the society including president. Represented society in the Arbitration Court.
• Represented Society at Political Labor League Conferences of Eight Hour Committee. Executive member of NSW Labor Council.
• President, Iron Trades Federation.
• Hundreds of trade unionists and several politicians were present at his funeral, and his pall-bearers included W. J. McKell, then assistant secretary to the Boilermakers’ Society.
• Cause of death: enteric fever.
• His only son Leslie Adair Leonard Hampton (1893-1917), an iron worker, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 7 September 1915 and was posted to France. Wounded in action on 4 August 1916, he was killed in action on 5 February 1917, serving with the 20th Battalion.

Sources
Obituary, Australian Worker (Sydney), 30 March 1916, p 22: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/145766770; Federated Society of Boilermakers' and Iron Shipbuilders of Australia, Quarterly Report, October 1918; Labor Party NSW, half-yearly report, 30 June 1916; Funeral, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 March 1916, p 4: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15661998; Christopher Cunneen, William John McKell: boilermaker, premier, governor-general, (Sydney 2000), pp 31 & 33.