Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet (29 September 1600 – 24 March 1645) was an English 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. ...

in 1640. He fought for the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Background

Aston was born in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, the eldest son of John Aston of Aston, Cheshire and his wife Maud Needham, daughter of Robert Needham.Burke (1841
pp. 25,26
/ref> His uncle was the soldier Arthur Aston.Kimber (1771) pp. 320,321 He matriculated at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

on 28 March 1617, aged 16, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts on 8 July 1619. In 1620, he was called to the bar by

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

. Aston was created a

baronet 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 ...

of Aston, in the County of Chester by

King Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

on 25 July 1628 .Courthope (1835
p. 9
/ref> He was appointed

High Sheriff of Cheshire This is a list of Sheriffs (and after 1 April 1974, High Sheriffs) of Cheshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

in 1635. In April 1640 he was elected Member of Parliament for

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

Civil War

When the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

broke out between the king and parliament, Aston took part with the Royalists, and was in command at

Middlewich Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, east of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. ...

in March 1643, when he was defeated by Sir William Brereton in the

First Battle of Middlewich The First Battle of Middlewich took place on 13 March 1643, during the First English Civil War, and was fought between the Roundheads, Parliamentarians, under Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, Sir William Brereton, and the Cavalier, Royali ...

. The Royalists lost two cannons and five hundred stand of arms. Few were killed, but the prisoners included many of the principal Royalists who took part, and the town suffered at the hands of the Parliamentarians, who made free with the property of burgesses and the plate of the church. Aston escaped, but when a few days later he returned to Chester, he was placed under arrest at

Pulford Pulford is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Poulton and Pulford, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the B5445 road, to the south west of Chest ...

, where he wrote a defence of his conduct which furnishes a very minute account of the affair.

William Axon William Edward Armytage Axon (13 January 1846 – 27 December 1913) was an English librarian, antiquary and journalist for the ''Manchester Guardian''. He contributed to the ''Dictionary of National Biography'' under his initials W. E. A. A. H ...

stated in his biography on Aston in the

DNB Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

that this was an interesting picture of the civil war. Aston apparently freed himself from censure and rejoined the king's army and indeed is said to have suffered a second defeat from Brereton at

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

in 1643.Davies
p. 76
/ref> He was afterwards captured in a skirmish in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. When in prison at

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

he tried to escape, but the attempt was discovered by a soldier who struck him on the head. This and other wounds received in the war brought on a fever, of which he died at Stafford on 24 March 1645, aged 44.

Marriage and children

Aston married firstly in 1627 Magdalene Pulteney, daughter of Sir John Pulteney and had by her two sons and two daughters, who all died young. Magdalene died in 1635, and he remarried in 1639 to Anne Willoughby, the daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, 1st Baronet. By his second wife he had two daughters and another son Willoughby, who succeeded his father as baronet. Aston was survived by his wife until 1688.

Notes

References

* * *Davies, Clarice Stella (1976), ''A history of Macclesfield'', Manchester University Press ND, , * * ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aston, Thomas, 1st Baronet 1600 births 1645 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Cavaliers Members of Lincoln's Inn English MPs 1640 (April) High Sheriffs of Cheshire