Edward Hasted (20 December 1732OS(31 December 1732NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county ofKent. As such, he was the author of a majorcounty history,The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (1778–99).
Hasted was born inLombard Street, London, the son of Edward Hasted (1702–1740) ofSutton-at-Hone, nearDartford,Kent by his wife, Ann Tyler. His grandfather, Joseph Hasted (1662–1732), had been employed as chief painter at theRoyal Navy'sChatham dockyard, but he was also a skilled financier, and amassed a considerable private estate and income. Hasted's father, Edward, became a wealthy barrister, and the young Edward Hasted was educated atDarent (1737–40),The King's School,Rochester (1740–44). From there, he went toEton College (1744–48), and a school inEsher (1748–50). After completing his education, he was a student for a short time atLincolns Inn, although he was not called to the bar.[1]
Hasted returned to his parents' home in Sutton-at-Hone, and, in July 1755, married Anne, Dorman, the daughter of a neighbour. In May 1766, he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.[2] Hasted acquired TheKnights Hospitaller's manor house ofSt. John's Jerusalem; and it was here that he wrote hismagnum opus. He attended the local church regularly, and also sat on the West KentQuarter Sessions bench atMaidstone. The couple had two daughters and five sons, one of whom was also named Edward. In 1770, they moved toCanterbury, where they lived until 1789, by which time his finances were in total confusion. Although he sold off 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 thewar with Napoleon drove him back home and intodebtors' prison for almost seven years.
Released in 1802, Hasted lived in poverty for five years until he was given the Mastership ofLady Hungerford's Almshouse inCorsham,Wiltshire, by his friendWilliam Bouverie, 1st Earl of Radnor. Hasted remained Master of the Almshouse from 1807 until his death in 1812, aged 79.
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent was first published in fourfolio volumes between 1778 and 1799.
A second edition appeared in 12octavo volumes between 1797 and 1801. It incorporated much new material, but also omitted many details from the first edition: it had been greatly revised by either one or two unidentified editors, and the extent to which it drew on materials collected by Hasted, or to which he was able to influence the work, remains unclear. A modern reprint of the second edition was published in 1972.
Hasted also published a separateHistory of the Antient and Metropolitical City ofCanterbury Civil and Ecclesiastical (1799).
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