Hampson joined the Partnership in 1982 and, after gaining experience in a number of department stores, became Managing Director of Tyrrell & Green (now John Lewis Southampton).

[citation needed] During those 14 years, Hampson presided over a programme of modernisation without sacrificing the partnership ethos and principles that were embodied in its 1929 constitution of co-ownership and the happiness of its staff.

[citation needed] Hampson was knighted in 1998 and also received an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Kingston University in the same year.

[3] Hampson spent the first part of his career in the Civil Service, starting at the Board of Trade in 1969 after leaving Oxford University.

Hampson chaired the team tackling Economic Renewal in deprived communities, and he is one of the Prince of Wales's Ambassadors in this area.