The Hampshire breed was founded in Hampshire (Hants) and surrounding counties in England. This breed is a cross between the Wiltshire Horne and the Berkshire Knots. The Wiltshire was described by Plumbe as " large, slow maturing, white-faced, narrow back, fine-fleeced sheep with horns, known as Wiltshires. The horns turn back behind the ears and about the cheeks .There were no other sheep like them in England ," and were valued by the butchers. The Berkshire was "somewhat larger, variable in type, "horned or polled, black/white/mottled faces, and a roman nose. .
In 1830, a breeder introduced some Cotswold blood through the use of this type of rams on native ewes. At the Royal Agricultural Show at Oxford in 1840, it was apparent of the breed had been improved with the use of Southdown blood.
William Humphrey of Oak Ash, Newbury, Hampshire was the first recognized breeder of the Hampshire. He bred his "West Country Down" ewes to the same kind of rams. In 1842, he decided to introduced Southdown blood. Over the years, he improved carcass characteristics, fleshing qualities, shorter legs, polled, and the face was a more uniform color. The successor of Humphrey was James Rawlence of Bulbridge in Wiltshire County. He started in 1863 by crossing Sussex ewes with "West Country Down" rams. He had great success with his animals in the show ring.
The Blendworth flock, owned by the Goldsmiths, made the greatest imprint on the American Hampshire by furnishing many of the best breeding rams. There was also the James Flower flock of Chilmark, Salisbury, but the most noted was those of H. A. Benyon of Reading, Berks, England, and P. Steward Tory and Sons of Blandford, Dorset, England. .
The breed was introduced into the United States before 1840, but registration did not begin until 1889 with the Hampshire Down Breeders Association. There were flocks in Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, but all disappeared during the Civil War.