Georgian Hampton

Hampton and Hampton Wick had a combined population of only 1150 at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Hampton Hill had yet to come into being and the land was just part of “The Common”. By the end of the eighteenth century Hampton had a population of 1722 and Hampton Wick had 793 inhabitants.

Hampton had a couple of famous residents in David Garrick the actor and John Beard the tenor. Garrick had acquired Hampton House (now Garrick’s Villa) in 1754 and lived there until his death in 1779, with his widow continuing to live there until 1822. John Beard acquired Rose Hill in 1774 and died in1791. There were other large houses occupied by lesser known people but in 1801 there were still only 134 houses. In Hampton most of the land was used for farming and grazing. Hampton Wick was even smaller and most of the land was fields.

In the early nineteenth century, as the population steadily increased, the parish church of St Mary’s became too small. By the 1820’s it was decided to build a new one, which opened in 1831. At the same time Hampton Wick split off as a separate parish and the church of St John the Baptist was built. Hampton Hill then split off as a separate parish in 1863 with its own church of St James’s and its population of 710 in 1861 grew to over 2400 by 1901.

19th Century Hampton ยป