Hampden:

Located at the head of White Bay, between the Great Northern Peninsula and the Baie Verte Peninsula, according to information presented in the ENL, Hampden was probably frequented by fishermen from "elsewhere" in the bay who settled at Riverhead (its original name) and at Gold Cove, a community across the bay, approximately 3 km (2 mi) to the north.

The census of 1857 reported a population of 23 people "engaged in the inshore fishery and land cultivation for domestic use".

The census of 1911 makes the first reference to the community as having the name of "Hampden". The ENL, typically the best resource for finding information on the origins of place names failed to give any information on the subject.

According to Hamilton (1996) the town was renamed by proclamation on August 16th, 1910, and was "probably inspired by Hampden, Buckinghamshire, England [bold added]".

The reason that Hampden falls in the group of "Names of Unknown Origin" is because in the Wikipedia article on Hampden, it states emphatically that "Hampden was named after English politician John Hampden".

At first glance it would appear that these two pieces of information are at odds with each other, however, a little more research confirmed that there was a connection.

It turns out that "Great Hampden is the ancestral home of the Hobart-Hampden family, the most famous of whom was the English Civil War hero John Hampden".

So, we now have some answers. We know when the town was renamed and that it took a "proclamation" to rename it, but the questions why it was renamed, and whether it was named after a 'place' or a 'person' remain unanswered.

The Census of 2016 showed the population of Hampden to include 429 residents, a 6.1% decrease from the 457 recorded in 2011.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/HampdenNL