Sir Thomas Aston, 4th Baronet (c. 1704–1744), of Aston-by-Sutton, Cheshire, was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1729 to 1741. Aston was the only son of Sir Thomas Aston, 3rd Baronet and his wife Catherine Widdrington, daughter of William Widdrington of Cheeseburn Grange, Northumberland. He matriculated at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

on 1 March 1722, aged 17. He succeeded his father on 16 January 1725, to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

and to the estate at Aston worth £4,000 p.a. Aston was returned as an opposition Whig

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

at a by-election on 28 May 1729 and acted strongly in the interests of Liverpool’s merchants and traders. His opponent Thomas Brereton, raised a petition which was finally rejected by the House in April 1730 after protracted hearings. Aston was elected to serve on the gaols committee. On 19 February 1730, he sent a reassuring report to the mayor of Liverpool, and thus the port’s independent traders, of a debate on the Royal African Company’s attempt to make independent traders pay for the maintenance of its forts in Africa. In the debate on Hessian troops on 3 February 1731, he proposed ‘that the House should address the King to give away his Hanover dominions to anybody that would take them’, but the move was ignored. On the Address on 16 January 1733, he challenged the statement expressing satisfaction with the situation of the country’s affairs given difficulties to trade caused by Spain and France. He spoke on the qualification bill that to expect merchants serving seaport towns to have land qualification was unreasonable. .He also spoke against the

Excise Bill The Excise Bill of 1733 was a proposal by the British government of Robert Walpole to impose an excise tax on a variety of products. This would have allowed Customs officers to search private dwellings to look for contraband untaxed goods. The per ...

. At the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

he decided not to stand for Liverpool, and was returned instead for St Albans on the recommendation of

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (née Jenyns, spelt Jennings in most modern references; 5 June 1660 (Old Style) – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of th ...

. On 30 March 1739 he spoke in favour of the repeal of the Test Act. He did not stand at the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

, Aston married Rebecca Shishe, daughter of John Shishe of Greenwich, Kent, in March 1736 but there was no issue from the marriage. He died while travelling at Paris and was buried at Aston on 17 February 1744. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his cousin Willoughby Aston

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aston, Sir Thomas, 4th Baronet 1700s births 1744 deaths British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Liverpool Baronets in the Baronetage of England People from Cheshire (before 1974)