The Austen name is linked to descendents of St Augustine, the first Archbishop  of Canterbury, who landed from Rome in Kent near Pegwell Bay on the Isle of Thanet in  the 6th Century.

Its not possible to trace back that far, but direct records are available dating back to the late  1500s where John Austen and his family lived in Northbourne in Kent, and was a well known Yeoman  farmer.

In the early 1700s John's descendents resettled to Wingham in Kent, where they remained and worked  as Yeoman farmers for more than 100 years.

The rapid development of Kent's seaside towns and the industrial revolution drew the family  towards Ramsgate in Kent where a brewery was founded under the name The Regent Brewery.

While the brewery was run by one branch of the family, another branch returned to farming around  the Faversham area.

Further down the line with the opportunities of a new life overseas presented  themselves, the family dispersed to Canada, the USA, New Zealand,  Australia and South Africa, and around the UK, where a few links to farming remain, but on an ever  decreasing scale.