Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hatsell, John
HATSELL, JOHN (1743–1820), clerk of the House of Commons, born in 1743, was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and afterwards studied law in the Middle Temple, of which society he became senior bencher. He was clerk assistant in the House of Commons at the close of the reign of George II, and became chief clerk in 1768. Lord Colchester knew him well, and acknowledged him to be the best authority on parliamentary procedure. Hatsell retired on 11 July 1797 with the thanks of the house. He died at Marden Park, near Godstone, Surrey, on 15 Oct. 1820, and was buried in the Temple Church.
He was the author of: 1. ‘A Collection of Cases of Privilege of Parliament, from the earliest records to 1628,’ London, 1776, 4to. In the British Museum there is a copy with copious manuscript notes by Francis Hargrave. 2. ‘Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons, under separate titles; with observations,’ 4 vols. London, 1781, 4to; second edit. 1785–96; third edit. 1796; fourth and best edit., with additions by Charles Abbot [q. v.], Lord Colchester, 1818.
[Gent. Mag. 1820, pt. ii. 372; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, p. 149; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 1011; Colchester's Diary.]