How old was Hempson?

In my write-up of Dennis Hampson almost three years ago, I started by laying out the sources for his name and his age, since as I commented there, “Since his first appearance in the records in 1792, Dennis Hampson’s name and age have been given differently by almost every person who has written about him”.

Some time ago Karen Loomis mentioned the possibility of collating the information about Counsellor Canning, to put parameters on when Hampson may have been with Canning in Garvagh. This post is inspired by that comment, and represents my attempt to track down him, and some of the other people mentioned in the biography of Dennis Hampson.

The information comes from the letter written by Rev. George Vaughan Sampson, who visited Hampson at his home in Magilligan on 3rd July 1805. We do not have the original letter, only a printed text of it in Lady Morgan’s novel The Wild Irish Girl. I don’t think Lady Morgan deliberately edited the letter, but there may be errors or accidental changes from it being printed in the novel.

Counsellor Canning

Rev. Sampson tells us in his letter of 1805, that “at eighteen years of age he began to play for himself, and was taken into the house of counsellor Canning, at Garvagh, for half a year; his host, with Squire Gage and Doctor Bacon, found and bought him a harp.”

This seems pretty unambigous, that age 18, Hampson went to Garvagh where he lived with Counsellor Canning, and was given his harp by the three men.

I am not having much luck tracking down Dr. Bacon at all. Squire Gage must be one of the Magilligan landowning family of that name, possibly William Gage (1700 – 1739)

Counsellor Canning is the lawyer, Stratford Canning (1703 – 1775).

Stratford Canning’s father was Lt.-Col. George Canning (c.1669 – 1711). I presume that Stratford Canning would have inherited Garvagh House in 1711, when he was a minor, aged about 8, though he may not have lived there until he finished his legal studies.

Stratford Canning was admitted to the Middle Temple in London on 1 June 1722, aged about 19, to begin his legal studies. I understand that he was called to the Irish bar in 1730, aged about 27, and from then on he would be referred to as Counsellor Canning. He would have been in Dublin for the four legal terms each year, and may have spent the long summer vacation from July to October at home in Garvagh.

Garvagh House was a grand country mansion, with an extensive demense, though the house was actually very close to the Main Street. It was demolished in the 20th century, and the site is now occupied by a school. Garvagh Museum is next to the house site, I think in the old walled garden.

Stratford Canning married Letitia Newburgh in 1734, at the age of 31, and presumably at that point he set up his married household in the ancestral home, Garvagh House.

It is my working assumption at this point that Hampson may have stayed at Garvagh House in the 1730s, perhaps in 1734 after Canning married and was setting up his family household. If he was there for six months I suppose it is possible Hampson was there over the summer, and then remained at Garvagh with Letitia over the autumn while Stratford was working in Dublin. But it is also possible that Hampson was at Garvagh as early as 1731, or perhaps even in the late 1730s.

So if Hampson was with Canning at Garvagh house for six months between c.1731 and c.1740, and Hampson was at that time aged 18, we can conclude that Hampson must have been born between about 1713 and 1722.

Other people involved in Hampson’s earlier life

If Hampson was born c.1715-20, how could that fit with other people who we know he was associated with? And how do these all relate to the “traditional” dates which I discussed in my previous post about Dennis Hempson?

Loughlin Fanning

Sampson’s letter says that Hampson’s third harp teacher was Loughlin Fanning, the father of the harper Charles Fanning. Loughlin was born c.1690 according to Fanning family genealogies. His son, Charles Fanning, is said to have been born in 1736, if we believe the age reported in the newspaper in 1792.

Sampson tells us that Hampson learned the harp under four successive teachers from the age of 12 through to 18. Bridget O’Cahan was the first; John C. Garracher was the second (and who took him to Buncrana); Loughlin Fanning was the third, and Pat Connor was the fourth.

If we think Hampson was born c.1715-20, then he would have been learning the harp from c.1727-32 through to c.1833-38. Loughlin Fanning would have been around 40 or so when Hampson was studying under him, which sounds reasonable. If we accept any of the earlier dates (older ages) told to us in later traditionary accounts, Loughlin Fanning would be correspondingly younger.

Carolan

Bunting p99 also says that Hampson “had been in Carolan’s company when a youth”. Carolan died in 1738. All four of Hampson’s teachers were from Connacht. We know his second teacher (named by Sampson as John C. Garracher) took him to Buncrana to work for General Vaughan, but it is possible that one of the other teachers took him to see the elderly Carolan.

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Sampson’s letter tells us that Hampson “travelled nine or ten years through Ireland and Scotland”. The way that this was written makes it seem as if it was straight after he left Counsellor Canning’s house. If Hampson left Garvagh House c.1733-38, then a nine or ten year period travelling in Ireland and Scotland would cover the period from then to c.1743 – 1748.

Sampson tells us that Hempson’s second trip to Scotland was in 1745. If we believe that he “travelled nine or ten years through Ireland and Scotland”, then his “second trip to Scotland in the year 1745” must be within this nine or ten year period. If we believe that the nine or ten year period began when he left Garvagh House aged 18, then his stay at Garvagh must be a bit later, and was probably in the second half of the 1830s; and this would suggest his birth may have been closer to 1820.

Conclusion

I am now pretty confident in stating that all of the traditional dates given for Dennis Hempson’s age, are exaggerating his actual age. I would be confident to suggest he was born in the late seventeen-teens, probably closer to 1720. He would have been aged in his early to mid 70s when he went to Belfast in 1792. And in 1807 when he died he would have been aged in his late 80s.

I think I am going to stick my neck out and start saying Dennis Hampson (c. 1720 – 1807)

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