Sir John de Aston, K.B. (died 1523) of Heywood, Staffordshire, was a soldier of great eminence during the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII. [2] [3] He served three times as Sheriff of Staffordshire and once as Sheriff of Leicestershire and Warwickshire.
John Aston was the son and heir of John de Aston ( fl. 1475) of Parkhall and Heywood by his wife Elizabeth Delves, a daughter of Sir John Delves, of Dodrington, Cheshire. [2]
Aston was made a Knight of the Bath, at the marriage of Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII, with Catherine of Aragon, Infanta of Spain, (afterwards the wife of his younger brother Henry VIII) which was celebrated in the year 1502. [3]
Sir John was Sheriff of Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1510–1511, and thrice Sheriff of Staffordshire (in 1500–1501, 1508–1509, 1513–1514). [4] [2]
Sir John was with Henry VIII in the Anglo-French War of 1513, [5] and was made a knight banneret for his conduct at the Battle of the Spurs. He obtained renown likewise at the Siege of Thérouanne and Tourney. [2] [6]
Maitland in his History of London records a charitable association, of which Sir John Aston was one of the members and founders:
There was a very noble Guild, or fraternity, founded in the church of St. Catherine's Hospital, in honor of St. Barbara. It was governed by a master and three wardens. It had two royal founders, King Henry VIII. and Queen Katharine his first wife; and many very high and honourable persons associated themselves as members and founders of the said confraternity ... [7]
Sir John died on 14 March 1523, [4] and he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Edward Aston of Tixall. [2] Sir John was buried by the side of his wife, in All Saints Church, Church Leigh, the parish church of Leigh, Staffordshire, where a handsome marble monument richly gilded, was erected to her memory. The manor of Leigh (and the manor house known as Park Hall in Church Leigh) was acquired by the Aston family on the marriage of Sir Thomas Aston to Elizabeth de Legh, a sister and co-heiress of Reginald de Legh, of Leigh. [8]
On the top of the monument are the figures of Sir John habited as a knight in complete armour, and his lady lying by him, their hands joined, and elevated in a praying posture, with appropriate emblems of valour and virtue, at the head and feet. The monument stands lengthways against the wall, and on the opposite side are six niches, with two human figures in each. At the head are also three niches, with two figures in each, and at the foot of the monument there are three, each filled with an angel, supporting a coat of arms. Round the verge is this inscription: [9]
Hic jacent corpora Domini Johannis Aston Militis, et Domimæ Johannæ Aston, uxoris ejus, qui quidem Dominus Johannes obiit decimo octavo die Mensis Maii, Anno Domini 1523. Et prædicta Domina Johanna obiit, —— die Mensis —— Anno Dom. 15——.
Sir John Aston married Joan Littleton, the daughter and heiress of Sir William Littleton (1450–1507) of Tixhall Hall, Staffordshire, eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Littleton, [2] [11] by his first wife, Ellen Walsh, a daughter of William Walsh/Welsh/Walsshe/Waleys of Wanlip in Leicestershire. [12] [13] [14] Joan Littleton inherited the manor of Wanlip from her mother, Ellen Walsh. Through this marriage the manor of Tixall also came to the Aston family, having been purchased by Sir Thomas Littleton from the heiress Rosede Wasteneys. [3] Sir John Aston had issue by his wife Joan Littleton including: [15]
Sir Thomas de Littleton or de Lyttleton KB was an English judge, undersheriff, Lord of Tixall Manor, and legal writer from the Lyttelton family. He was also made a Knight of the Bath by King Edward IV.
Lord Aston of Forfar was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The barony was created on 28 November 1627 for Sir Walter Aston, Bt, who had been previously created Baronet of Tixall Hall, Staffordshire on 22 May 1611.
Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar was an English courtier and diplomat.
Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar was the second and eldest surviving son of Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar, and Gertrude Sadleir, daughter of Sir Thomas Sadleir of Standon, Hertfordshire, and his second wife Gertrude Markham. Lady Aston was the granddaughter of the noted Elizabethan statesman Sir Ralph Sadler.
Hugh Clifford, 3rd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh of Ugbrooke House near Chudleigh in Devon, was a peer.
Tixall is a small village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the English county of Staffordshire lying on the western side of the Trent valley between Rugeley and Stone, Staffordshire and roughly 4 miles east of Stafford. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 239.
Three baronetcies have been created in the Baronetage of England for members of the Littleton or Lyttelton family. All three lines are descended from Thomas de Littleton, a noted 15th-century jurist. Despite differences in the spelling of the title, the names of all three lines were spelt in many varied ways in the early modern period, without distinction between the different branches of the family. This can be confusing, as the range of forenames in use was very limited.
The Clifford-Constable Baronetcy, of Tixall in the County of Staffordshire was given to Thomas Hugh Clifford-Constable, originally Thomas Hugh Constable Clifford. The title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom was created on 22 May 1815 and at the request of Louis XVIII of France.
Sir Thomas Holte, 1st Baronet was an English landowner, responsible for building Aston Hall, in the parish of Aston in Warwickshire. The "Holte End" stand of Villa Park, the stadium of Aston Villa Football Club, sits on land originally part of the Aston Hall gardens and is named after Thomas Holte. The area also has a Holte School and Holte Road.
This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire.
Tixall Gatehouse is a 16th-century gatehouse situated at Tixall, near Stafford, Staffordshire and is all that remains of Tixall Hall which was demolished in 1927. The gatehouse is a Grade I listed building. Tixall was used as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots for two weeks in 1586.
The Baronetcy of Gresley of Drakelow was created in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 for George Gresley of Drakelow Hall, Derbyshire who was later High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Ingestre is a village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 194. It is four miles to the north-east of the county town of Stafford.
Arthur Clifford (1778–1830) was an English antiquarian.
Sir Thomas Aston Clifford-Constable, 2nd Baronet was a British landowner and Member of Parliament.
Sir John de Aston of Parkhall and Heywood was a Sheriff of Staffordshire and of Warwickshire in the reign of Edward IV of England.
Sir Walter Aston, DL, JP, of Tixall and Heywood, Staffordshire, was a Knight of the Shire and Sheriff of Staffordshire.
Sir Edward Aston of Tixall, Staffordshire was Sheriff of Staffordshire.
Sir Edward Aston built and resided at Tixall House, Staffordshire. He served four terms as Sheriff of Staffordshire.
The Lyttelton family is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Lyttelton family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Lyttelton family include the viscountcies of Cobham and Chandos, as well as the Lyttelton barony and Lyttelton baronetcy. Several other members of the family have also risen to prominence, particularly in the field of cricket.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain :Burke, Sir Bernard (1866), A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Harrison, p. 14 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain :Constable, Sir Thomas Hugh; Clifford, Arthur (1817), A topographical and historical description of the parish of Tixall in the County of Stafford, Paris, p. 243