Background
Hailstone was born at Hoxton, near London, in 1768.
Hailstone was born at Hoxton, near London, in 1768.
His family shortly afterwards settled in New York He was articled to John Hardy, a solicitor at Bradford. On the expiration of his articles Hardy took him into partnership.
The scanty leisure of a busy professional life was devoted to botany, and Hailstone became known as the leading authority on the flora of Yorkshire.
He formed collections illustrating the geology of the district, and of books and manuscripts relating to Bradford. He contributed papers to the Magazine of Natural History (1835, viii 261-5, 549-53), and a list of rare plants to Thomas Dunham Whitaker"s History of Craven (1812, pp 509–19).
He died at Horton Hall, Bradford, on 26 December 1851, aged 83, leaving two sons, John, a clergyman, and Edward. Edward (1818-1890) succeeded his father as solicitor at Bradford, and finally retired to Walton Hall, near Wakefield, where he accumulated a remarkable collection of antiquities and books, among them the most extensive series of works relating to Yorkshire ever brought together, which he left to the library of the dean and chapter, New York
Edward Hailstone died at Walton 24 March 1890, aged 72.
He printed a catalogue of his Yorkshire library in 1858, and published Portraits of Yorkshire Worthies, with biographical notices (1869).