Edward Hatton

Edward Hatton (c. 1664 – after 1733) was a surveyor for a fire insurance company in London who wrote A New View of London: or, an Ample Account of that City, in Two Volumes, or Eight Sections. &c., published anonymously in two octavo volumes 1708. The New View is an important reference to the streets, life and buildings of London not long after the Great Fire of London, 1666.

A New View of London The New View was apparently prepared mainly in the 1680s and 90s and by the time it was published in 1708 a supplement was necessary to bring it up to date.

The New View commences with an introduction to the government of London, past and present, followed by eight sections, each arranged alphabetically: I. A 92-page street directory. II. A history of over 100 churches and chapels in nearly 500 pages. III. Descriptions of the livery companies of London, customs houses, the Bank of England etc. IV. Palaces and houses of the nobility. The Houses of Parliament and notable Halls. V. Colleges, libraries, museums, free schools and courts etc. VI. Hospitals, prisons, workhouses, houses of correction, almshouses, charity schools. VII. Fountains, bridges, conduits, ferries, docks, keys, wharfs. VIII. Public statues.

Hatton states that the inspiration for his own work was a pocket guide to Paris. This may have been the Description de Paris, by Germain Brice, first published 1681, which received an English translation in 1685. His antiquarian associates blamed the delay on an "unskillful writing master", presumably Hatton, who had stolen the market, but Strype's own slow progress in completing his work may also have played a part in the delay. Strype did refer his readers to Hatton, but on more recent subjects and therefore possibly matters below him as an antiquarian. Hatton published a book titled The Merchant's Magazine or Tradesman's Treasury (author "E. Hatton Gent". The work was intended as a primer in good business practice and subjects covered included arithmetic, book-keeping, trading practices and model business letters. Imaginary correspondents included Nicholas Needum, Lazarus Lackcash and Dives Doubledun. Also included were nine sample plates of penmanship relating to the rules of arithmetic. Later, Hatton was a subscriber to works on surveying and mathematics.

Personal life Hatton was most likely

His family arms, pictured in the frontispiece to The Merchant's Magazine or Tradesman's Treasury, include three wheatsheaves with a chevron differenced by a mullet containing a crescent, suggesting a link with a branch of the Hatton family of Long Stanton, Cambridgeshire.

Selected publications The Merchant's Magazine or Tradesman's Treasury. 1695. (fourth expanded edition 1701, ninth impression 1734) A New View of London Volume I. London, 1708. A New View of London Volume II. London, 1708. An Intire System of Arithmetic. London, 1721. Isaac Keay's The Practical Measurer. 1724. Third revised edition. (Editor) Editions up to at least 1777. A Mathematical Manual: or, Delightful Associate. London, 1728.