Hampson, James Thomas (Lieutenant), MC; Hampson, William Kingston (Private)

Collection relating to the service of Lieutenant James Thomas Hampson, 19 Battalion, AIF, France, and 2773 Private William Kingston Hampson, 5 Field Ambulance, AIF, Gallipoli. Collection includes photocopies of letters from Lieutenant Hampson to his mother in Australia, and photocopies of a diary kept by Private Hampson on Gallipoli between May and December, 1915. Copies made by Australian War Memorial, Melbourne [c. 1928]. Location of originals unknown.

The letters of Lieutenant James Thomas Hampson reveal him to have been a devoted son, who wrote with tender affection to his mother. His letters convey his increasing disillusionment with the war and his anger and distress at watching his generation "bleed to death." The diary of 2773 Private William Kingston Hampson, 5 Field Ambulance, AIF, shows him to be a pragmatic, unsentimental man who kept descriptive and reasonably detailed records of his experiences on Gallipoli. The account of his visit to Quinn's Post, on 19 November 1915, is particularly interesting.

Biographical note: Lieutenant James Thomas Hampson, MC, 19 Battalion, AIF, who died on 6 October 1918 of wounds received near Peronne. Other biographical details concerning him are: clerk, of Coraki, Richmond River, NSW, born Hawksburn, Victoria, educated at Carlton (Vic) State School; served for two years in the 4th Light Horse Regiment, AMF, enlisted in AIF on 11 May 1915, won the Military Cross at Mont. St. Quentin on 31 August 1918; age at time of death, 27. A brother, William Kingston Hampson, served with the 5th Field Ambulance, AIF, and survived the war.

• Wallet 1 of 1 - Photocopies of letters from James Thomas Hampson and a diary kept by William Kingston Hampson