Sir Robert Austen, (1697 - 1743)
4th Baronet of Hall Place, Bexley, Kent

Born 6 october 1697, the 1st son of Sir Robert Austen and Elizabeth Stawell of Cothelstone, Somerset., educated at Oriel, Oxford, 1715. He married Rachel Dashwood on 4 November 1738.

He was Sheriff for Kent in 1724

After failing to secure the Whig nomination for the county of Kent, he 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 n 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 Oc.1743, so much in debt that his estates went into Chancery.

Source: House of Commons

Early history
The house dates back to around 1540 when wealthy merchant Sir John Champneys, Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1534, used stone recycled from a nearby former monastery, Lesnes Abbey, to build himself a country house on a site where a manor house was recorded some 300 years earlier in 1241.

Alterations to Champneys' house were made in 1560. In 1649, the house was sold to another wealthy City merchant, Sir Robert Austen (1587–1666), who added a second wing built of red bricks, doubling the size of the house but without trying to harmonise the two halves built in highly contrasting architectural styles. He was created 1st Baronet Austen, of Hall Place in Bexley, on 10 July 1660 and briefly held the office of High Sheriff of Kent.

 Dashwood tenants
The house remained in the Austen family until the mid 18th century when Robert Austen (1697–1743), the 4th baronet (Sheriff of Kent in 1724 and MP for New Romney from April 1728 to 1734), died and the estate was eventually purchased (c. 1772) by his brother-in-law Sir Francis Dashwood, a member of the notorious Hellfire Club. It remained in the Dashwood family until 1926, but was used as a boarding school for much of the 19th century.

In about 1870, Maitland Dashwood returned to Hall Place, restored the building and leased it to various tenants. These included, in the early 20th century, Lord Churston and his wife music hall singer and actress Denise Orme, and, from 1917, the Countess of Limerick. A major figure in early 20th century social society, Lady Limerick's social gatherings included the future King George VI.

Council ownership
 A view of Hall Place showing the topiary garden Although the Municipal Borough of Bexley took ownership of the Hall Place house and grounds in 1935, Lady Limerick remained a tenant until her death in 1943, making alterations and beginning the house’s topiary garden of traditional heraldic figures, the Queen's Beasts — later completed and made open to the public by the Council to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The house was used as an American army communications centre in World War II (intercepting German signals for later decoding at Bletchley Park). Post-war, after again being used as an annex to the local technical school for girls, the building was restored in 1968 to became the headquarters of Bexley’s Libraries and Museums service, until 1995. (From Wikipedia)

Hall Place website