[1] He succeeded to the title of 4th Baronet Austen of Hall Place in Bexley, Kent upon the death of his father on 5 July 1706 .
Austen was seated on petition as Member of Parliament (MP) for New Romney, Kent on 29 April 1728 after being defeated in the poll at the 1727 British general election.
He did not vote on the Spanish convention in 1739 nor on the place bill in 1740, and appears in a ministerial list of absent opposition Members on 21 November 1739.
He stood down at New Romney at the 1741 British general election in favour of his brother-in-law, Sir Francis Dashwood.
[3] He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his brother Sir Sheffield Austen, and was so much in debt that his estates went into Chancery.