During the Wars of the Roses, Ralph Hastings was a committed supporter of the House of York. He was both an esquire and a knight of the body to Edward IV. He fought at the battles of Barnet on 14 April 1471 and at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1461, where he was knighted. In the same year the King appointed him joint keeper of Rockingham Castle in Kent, and granted him an annuity of 50 marks. In 1462 he was granted the manor of Great Harrowden, forfeited to the crown by the attainder on 4 November 1461 of Sir William Vaux, later slain at Tewkesbury. He held numerous offices during the reign of Edward IV, including Keeper of the Lions and Leopards in the Tower of London.