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became a Vice-Admiral; and on the 4th June, 1814, an Admiral.

In 1815, the Order of the Bath was remodelled and divided into three classes, when the Earl of Northesk was placed in the first, and became G.C.B.

In consequence of the death of Admiral Sir William Young, Admiral Sir James Saumarez was appointed Vice-Admiral of Great Britain; and at the same time, 21st November, 1821, the Earl of Northesk was appointed Rear-Admiral of Great Britain, in the room of Sir James Saumarez.

In May, 1827, Lord Northesk was appointed Commanderin-chief at Plymouth, where his Lordship remained until 1830, when the period allowed for the command expired.

Lord Northesk had been for some years afflicted with asthma; but no serious apprehensions of his sudden dissolution were entertained. This event, by which the Navy has lost a bright ornament, the nation one of its brave defenders, and his family one of the best of parents, occurred on the 28th of May, 1831, at his Lordship's residence in Albemarle Street, after an illness of three days; which was considered so slight by his Lordship, that he had intended to be present at the drawing-room of her Majesty, to celebrate his Majesty's birth-day, on the morning of which he became a corpse.

The funeral of this brave and distinguished nobleman took place, 8th of June, in St. Paul's Cathedral, in which sacred edifice repose the ashes of Nelson and Collingwood, who shared with Lord Northesk the laurels won at Trafalgar. The funeral was strictly private, and was attended only by the relations and friends of his Lordship. In room of the pall, which usually covers the coffin on such occasions, was substituted the English flag, supported, as pall-bearers, by ViceAdmiral Sir Richard King, Bart. K. C.B., Vice-Admiral Sir William Hotham, K. C. B., Rear-Admiral Walker, C. B., Rear-Admiral Rodd, C. B., Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Bart. K. C. B., and Rear-Admiral William Parker, C. B.

The Earl of Northesk married, in 1789, Mary, daughter of

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William H. Ricketts, Esq., by Mary, sister of the late Earl, and mother of the present Viscount St. Vincent; by whom he had issue George, Lord Rosehill, who was lost on board the Blenheim, where he was Midshipman, in 1807, when that ship foundered in the East Indies, having on board the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge; William Hopetoun, now the Earl of Northesk; and several other children, one of whom is Midshipman on board the St. Vincent, with ViceAdmiral Sir Henry Hotham, in the Mediterranean.

"Marshall's Royal Naval Biography," and "The United Service Journal," are our authorities for this little memoir.

339

No. XXVI.

WILLIAM HAMPER, ESQ.

F. S. A., HONORARY MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES AT NEWCASTLE, AND A JUSTICE OE THE PEACE FOR THE COUNTIES OF WARWICK AND WORCESTER.

FOR the following brief account of this amiable man and profound antiquary, whose name and memory will be perpetuated in the annals of archæology and topography, as long as those branches of literature are studied and admired, we are indebted to " The Gentleman's Magazine."

MR. HAMPER was descended from a family of that name at Hurstperpoint, in the county of Sussex, who, in the seventeenth century, branched off from the parent stock, of considerable antiquity, at West Tarring, in that county. His father, Thomas Hamper, settled early in life at Birmingham; and there, on December 12. 1776, his only child, the subject of the present memoir, was born. Raised in society by the cultivation of his superior talents and taste, he had the distinguished merit of self-education, and was the simple architect of his own reputation and station in the republic of letters. He was brought up to the business of his father; and the task of travelling in many English counties, required by its concerns, enabled him to indulge the taste he had acquired for visiting churches and other ancient buildings. His earliest productions, however, were poetical pieces, which were generally communicated to the pages of the Gentleman's Magazine. The very first of these we believe to have been the lines entitled "The Beggar-boy," in the number for September,

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1798.* In the following number is a more lively and spirited production, an anti-revolutionary song, beginning, "To learn Johnny Bull à la mode de Paris;" and as a clever piece, writ ten with the same loyal and constitutional feelings, may be mentioned "A Pindaric Address," in January, 1801. These, and many others, are signed H. D. B., the initials of Hamper, Deritend, Birmingham. Whilst on the subject of his poetry, we may also mention a very clever versification of the legend regarding the Devil's Dyke in Sussex, which has been frequently printed in the Brighton Guide Books. It may be

* The following is the piece alluded to: →→

THE BEGGAR-BOY.

When blows the cold and piercing wind,
And Nature's dress'd in robes of snow,
And you, with friends so free and kind,
Of winter's blasts do little know;
In dance and song your hours enjoy,
Nor heed the tempest rcar;
Ah! think on the poor beggar-boy
That's shivering at your door.

His parents once like you were gay,
Like you enjoy'd their revelry;
But intercepted was that ray

Of mirth by clouds of penury.

By dire disease to want brought nigh,
Their hearts could bear no more:
They died, and left the beggar-boy

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safely affirmed that Mr. Hamper's poetical compositions evince a feeling mind, felicity of expression, and occasionally great and original humour. In his younger days he was also much attached to music, and was a composer as well as a performer: he set to music one or more songs, which were published under the assumed name of Repmah, being his own reversed.

From the year 1804 to 1812, Mr. Hamper communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine a succession of views of churches and other ancient structures, accompanied by original descriptions and illustrations: they are upwards of thirty in number, in various counties, but chiefly in Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent. After the last-named year his attention was diverted to other objects; and the only subsequent plates engraved after his pencil are the very singular church of Barton-on-the Humber, in September, 1816, and the birth-place of the reformer Knox at Haddington, in April, 1817.

In 1811, at the request of the Overseers and Guardians of the Poor of Birmingham, and on the express solicitation of the magistrates then acting for that town and neighbourhood, Mr. Hamper was induced to take upon himself the office of a Justice of the Peace for the county of Warwick. As there are no police magistrates in the great town of Birmingham, none of the unpaid magistracy in any part of the kingdom can be called upon for a greater sacrifice of time than the gentlemen who occupy the place which Mr. Hamper thus undertook. He executed its duties with the utmost activity, vigilance, and intelligence; and, with the exception of one short interval *, continued to fulfil them for twenty years.

* Upon occasion of Mr. Hamper's temporary relinquishment of the office in 1819, in consequence of a severe illness and subsequent debility, a special general meeting of the Overseers and Guardians was held, Nov. 3. 1819; and, amongst other Resolutions, the following were unanimously agreed to:

"Resolved, That this meeting deeply regrets that severe illness should have obliged their highly respected magistrate, William Hamper, Esq., to retire for the present from the office he had so long held with honour to himself and advantage to the town of Birmingham.

"Resolved, That the most respectful and sincere thanks of this meeting be given to William Hamper, Esq. for the readiness with which he accepted of the office of Magistrate, at the particular request of the Overseers and Guardians, and for

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