[1] Dampier had a stage career in Manchester before moving to Melbourne, Australia in 1873,[1] under contract to the Harwood syndicate, consisting of H. R. Harwood, George Coppin, Richard Stewart (father of Nellie Stewart), and John Hennings, managers of Melbourne's Theatre Royal.

After three years he undertook his own management and toured major towns in Australia and New Zealand, followed by America and England.

He staged five plays by F. R. C. Hopkins between 1876 and 1882, and adapted For the Term of His Natural Life (1886), Robbery Under Arms (1890),[4] and The Miner's Right (1891).

[1] A good number of actors stayed with Dampier through his changing fortunes — Carrie Bilton, Alfred Harford, Regel Rede, Alfred Rolfe, George Buller, Edmund Holloway, Julia Merton, Helen Nugent, J.

[9] She died from a stroke in Reading, Pennsylvania while touring America with her daughter Rose and son Fred.