John de Aston (knight banneret)


Sir John de Aston, K.B., was a military character of great eminence during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. He was a county sheriff four times.

Biography

John Aston was the son and heir of John de Aston and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Delves, of Dodrington, Cheshire.
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, which was celebrated in the year 1502.
Sir John was Sheriff of Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1510–1511, and thrice Sheriff of Staffordshire.
Sir John was with Henry VIII in the Anglo-French War of 1513, 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.
Maitland in his History of London records a charitable association, of which Sir John Aston was one of the members and founders:
Sir John died on 14 March 1523, and he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Edward Aston of Tixall.
Sir John was buried by the side of his wife, in Leigh church, where a handsome marble monument richly gilded, was erected to her memory; 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:

Family

Sir John Aston married Joan Littleton, the daughter of Sir William Littleton, eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Littleton, by his first wife, Ellen Walsh, daughter of William Walsh of Wanlip. 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.
Sir John Aston and Joan Littleton had four children: