This article was published in Australian Dictionary of
Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966 John Stephen Hampton
(1810?-1869), surgeon, comptroller-general of convicts and
governor, was awarded a medical diploma at Edinburgh in 1828,
and in January 1829 entered the navy as an assistant surgeon. He
served in the Britannia and went to Mexico in the Sphinx. In May
1832 he successfully applied for three months leave to study and
in June was awarded the Edinburgh certificate. He was then
posted to Plymouth dockyard, where he distinguished himself in
the prevention of cholera, but spent a month himself in hospital
with ague and hepatitis. On his recovery he served in several
ships and pleased the physician-general with 'his observations
on the diseases of the West Indies'. He was promoted surgeon 'on
account of merit' in December 1834 and surgeon-superintendent in
March 1843, having filled several assignments in convict
transports sailing to Van Diemen's Land. In May 1846 he was
appointed comptroller-general of convict