A devout Presbyterian who was converted to Sabbatarianism by his older brother Francis Bampfield, he published a number of religious works before this death in October 1693.

[2] Bampfield attended Exeter College, Oxford, followed by legal training at Middle Temple in 1642, although the First English Civil War meant he did not qualify as a lawyer until 1649.

[1] Following the May 1660 Stuart Restoration, he helped draft a petition recommending clemency for the republicans John Lambert and Sir Henry Vane, as well as urging Charles to "marry a Protestant'.

His opposition to the restoration of Episcopacy in the Church of England, and support for Puritan regulations prohibiting drunkenness and profanity, were out of step with the public mood.

He regained some of his former positions in 1688, when the Catholic James II was trying to win support for his policies from minority religious groups, then relinquished them after the Glorious Revolution.