Edward Hasted

Edward Hasted (31 December1732–1812) was the author of "The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent" (1788–99)

Life

Hasted was born in London, the son of Edward Hasted by his wife Ann of Sutton-at-Hone near Dartford, Kent. His grandfather, Joseph Hasted (1662–1732), had been employed as chief painter in the Royal Navy at Chatham dockyard, but he was also a skilled financier and as such was able to establish an annual income of £1,000. Hasted's father, Edward, became a wealthy barrister, and the young Edward Hasted was educated at The King's School, Rochester between 1740-1744. From there he went to Eton College and Esher. After completing his education he began life following in his father's legal profession, spending a short time as a member of Lincolns Inn.

Hasted returned to his parents' home in Sutton-at-Hone and in July 1755 married the daughter of a neighbour, Anne Dorman. They acquired The Knights Hospitaller's manor house of St. John's Jerusalem; and it was here that he wrote his "magnum opus". He attended the local church regularly and also sat on the West Kent Quarter Sessions bench at Maidstone. The couple had two daughters and five sons, one of whom was also named Edward. In 1770 they moved to Canterbury where they lived until 1789, by which time his finances were in total confusion, and although he sold of some of his estates, he sank deeper into debt. In 1790 he left his wife Anne and fled to France with another woman.

There he remained until the war with Napoleon drove him back home and into debtor's prison for almost seven years.

Released 1802, Hasted lived in poverty for five years until he was given the Mastership of Lady Hungerford's Almshouse in Corsham, Wiltshire, by his friend William Bouverie, who had become Earl of Radnor in 1765. The Almshouse had been founded in 1668 by Lady Margaret Hungerford to provide homes for six (later eight) poor people and education for ten children. Hasted remained Master of the Almshouse from 1807 to 1812.

Hasted died in 1812, aged 79.

Works

Hasted's great work on the history of Kent was first published 1788–99. A modern printing of his much-revised second edition (1797–1801) was published in 1972.

He also published separate titles on other places in the county, listed below.
* History of the Ancient and Metropolitical City of Canterbury (1799)
* History of Bexley
* History of Brasted
* History of Gravesend
* History of Lamberhurst
* History of Lewisham
* History of Sandhurst
* History of Tenterden

External links

* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/catalogue.asp?type=false&gid=99 Hasted's 'History of Kent'] : a full-text edition of some of the volumes of the second edition, as part of British History Online.

References

*
* "Kent 1800-1899: A Chronicle of the Nineteenth Century" Bob Ogley. Froglets Publications, 2003. ISBN 1-872337-51-1.
* On Hasted, and the development of the history of Kent, see C.R.J. Currie and C.P. Lewis (eds), "English County Histories. A Guide" (Stroud, Sutton, 1994), pp.208-15.
* A Scholar and a Gentleman: Edward Hasted, The Historian of Kent, Shirley Burgoyne Black. Darenth Valley Publications, Otford, Kent, 2001. ISBN 0-9507334-8-2