Family and Education

b. 6 Oct. 1697, 1st s. of Sir Robert Austen, 3rd Bt., by Elizabeth, da. and coh. of George Stawell of Cothelstone, Som. educ. Oriel, Oxf. 1715. m. 4 Nov. 1738, Rachel, da. of Sir Francis Dashwood, 1st Bt., M.P., sis. and h. of Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Bt., afterwards (1763) Lord le Despenser, s.p. suc. fa. July 1706.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Kent 1724.

Biography

After failing to secure the Whig nomination for the county of Kent, Austen was put up by Sir Robert Furnese at New Romney, near some of his estates. He was returned on petition, voting with the Opposition on the civil list, the Hessians, and the army, but for the excise bill, and abstaining on the repeal of the Septennial Act. Defeated in 1734, he was returned at a by-election in 1736; did not vote on the Spanish convention 1739 or the place bill 1740, and figures in a ministerial list of absent opposition Members on 21 Nov. 1739. He stood down in 1741 in favour of his brother-in-law, Sir Francis Dashwood; and died on 7 Oct. 1743, so much in debt that his estates went into Chancery.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: A. N. Newman

Notes