Roger Aston

Sir Roger Aston (died 23 May 1612) of Cranford, Middlesex, was an English courtier and favourite of James VI of Scotland.[1][2]

Biography

Aston was a bastard son of Thomas Aston (died 1553).[3] Scottish sources spell his name variously as "Aschetone", "Aschetoun" or "Aschingtoun".

After serving the Earl of Lennox, Lord Darnley, and Mary, Queen of Scots, Aston was made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James VI of Scotland in 1578.[4] In England he was Master of the Great Wardrobe to King James I in England. He held both positions until his death.[2] From 1595 he was keeper of Linlithgow Palace, and one of his daughters was born at the palace in October 1595.[5]

In July 1582 he was sent to Antwerp with a Scottish diplomat. They were to bring back Colonel William Stewart of Houston. Aston wrote to the Earl of Leicester describing his mission, the state of Scotland, and reporting the surrender of the town of "Houdencke", meaning Oudenaarde, whose garrison was allowed to retire with ensigns displayed.[6]

In December 1586 he rode to London with Robert Melville and the Master of Gray who were sent as ambassadors to plead for the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.[7] He received £4,000 from Queen Elizabeth for James VI, the payment of an annuity or subsidy.[8]

Aston brought the news of Mary's death to James VI in February 1587.[9] Archibald Douglas had advised William Davison to delay sending Aston to Edinburgh with the bad news, which could affect Aston's standing with the king, and so his use to English service. However, Aston's reputation did not suffer.[10]

In July 1587 Aston wrote to Francis Walsingham and Archibald Douglas from Falkland Palace. He told Walsingham he felt abandoned and wished to seek his fortune elsewhere. To Douglas he wrote of his hopes that Elizabeth would work for James, and of his efforts for Douglas personally in the "part of a true friend". He felt unable to write to their friend Thomas Fowler because of his evil fortune. Douglas sent Aston's letters to Walsingham. It was expected that Aston and Sir William Keith of Delny would lose their places at court because they had been supporters of the Master of Gray, who was out of favour. The Earl of Huntly's followers called Aston, Keith, and the Lord Privy Seal "Queen Elizabeth's pensioners". Aston felt he was watched as an Englishman and could not write as often as he wished.[11]

Aston remained in the king's service, and in December 1588 stayed at Kinneil House and played a card game called "maye" with the king. Aston wrote to James Hudson that James was pleased by the news of the deaths of Catherine de' Medici and the Duke of Guise. He mentioned the worth of Fulke Greville's opinions. He was himself growing weary of the "little certainty in this state as I know not what to say to it". James Hudson sent Aston's letters to Walsingham.[12]

In March 1589 Aston (and Thomas Fowler) wrote of his support for the Chancellor of Scotland, John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane. Aston went to London and met with Walsingham on 12 April. Fowler wanted his correspondence kept secret from the Scottish ambassador and Aston. Aston returned to Edinburgh on 28 May 1589.[13]

In August 1589 Aston travelled to London to buy items for the arrival in Scotland, the wedding, and the coronation of Anne of Denmark. He visited or wrote to Lord Scrope at Carlisle for actors from the Queen's Players to perform in Edinburgh. However, bad weather prevented Anne of Denmark from sailing.[14] Aston travelled to Norway and Denmark with the king in 1589 and 1590.[15]

He was made keeper of Linlithgow Palace and in 1594 repaired the roof using lead shipped from England. While he was at Stirling Castle in September 1595 he sold a hackney horse to James VI for him to ride, costing £200 Scots.[16]He asked the English ambassador Robert Bowes for a fair and large portrait of Queen Elizabeth.[17]

Aston kept up a correspondence with Sir Robert Cecil. His letters were sensitive, and once when they were intercepted in England and returned to Scotland he risked disgrace.[18] Probably, James VI knew what Aston shared with his English correspondents, and found this a useful source of information.[19]

In 1598 Aston had hoped to buy land for his wife and children's future in Scotland, but was caught up in the financial crisis caused by the bankruptcy of Robert Jousie and Thomas Foulis.[20]

He was injured in a fall on the steps outside Anne of Denmark's bedchamber at Dunfermline Palace in March 1602 and was unconscious for three hours.[21]

England

Aston moved to England at the Union of the Crowns. In October 1603 the king transferred Aston's Scottish pension of 500 merks to Archibald Douglas of Whittingehame.[22]

As Master of the Wardrobe, in 1608 Aston was involved in upholstering the seating and the Lord Chancellor's woolsack in the Houses of Parliament.[23]

He was a Member of Parliament for Cheshire in the Blessed Parliament from 1604 to 1611. [24]

King James, by writ under the privy seal, in the 9th year of his reign (1611 or 1612), granted to Sir Roger's coat-armour, an augmentation out of the two national badges of England and Scotland: the rose of England, and the thistle of Scotland impaled, in a canton or, in regard of the marriage of Sir Roger with Mary Stewart, a lady in waiting to Anne of Denmark, and daughter of Andrew Stewart, Master of Ochiltree, (who died during the life of his father Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree).[25]

Aston lies buried in St Dunstan's Church, Cranford, London in an ornate church monument.[26][lower-alpha 1]

Family
Aston Monument, St Dunstan, Cranford Park - geograph.org.uk - 1215812

Aston married firstly Mary Stewart (died 11 April 1606), gentlewoman in the household of Anne of Denmark, daughter of Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree and Andrew Stewart, Master of Ochiltree (see above), with whom he had four daughters:Wotton 1741, p. 108

  • Margaret (23 December 1657), married Sir Gilbert Houghton, 2nd Baronet, of Houghton-Tower, in Lancashire.
  • Mary, married Sir Samuel Peyton, of Knowlton, in Kent.
  • Elizabeth, married Sir Robert Wingfield, of Upton, in Northamptonshire,
  • Anne, married Sir Thomas Perient, of Colchester, in Essex.

Afterwards Aston married secondly Cordelia, daughter of Sir John Stanhope and sister to the Earl of Chesterfield. They had one son who died in infancy.Wotton 1741, p. 108

Notes
  1. Written on the monument is the following inscription:
    Here lyeth buried the Body of Sr Roger Aston Kt. whose Soule exchanged the Earthly for the Heavenly Tabernacle the 23d of May 1612. haveing long continued a diligent & trusty Servant to James King of Great Britain France & Ireland and for the painfull & faithfull Service he had done to his Grandfather his Father & Himselfe was by him ordained (and to his death so continued) one of the Gentlemen of his Majesties Bedchamber in Anno 1587. as may appear by his Majesties Letters Patents, appointed by Sr Roger Aston to be inclosed and kept in this his Monument; He was alsoe made Master of his Majesties Great Wardrobe in England at the house of which office he departed this Life. He descended from a younger Branch of the House of Aston an ancient Familey of Gentry in the County of Chester: And with the good likeing and Aprovement of the Kings Majesty (then King of Scotland) and of her Father he was married to Mary Stuart a Kinswoman to the Kings Majesty and Daughter to the Lord Ogletry an antient Baron of Scotland. She departed this Life the 11th. of April 1606. and here with him is buried & intombed by whom he had many Children Sons and Daughters whereof only four daughters were living at the time of his Decease. The eldest of them being Margret was in his Life time married to Sir Gilbert Houghton in the County of Lancaster Bantt. Kt. The second being Mary was also married in his Life time to Sir Samuel Peyton in the County of Kent Barrtt. Kt. The third being Elizabeth since the death of her Father is married to Sir Robert Wingfield in the County of Northampton Kt. The youngest & fourth being Ann Aston is yet unmarried. After the death of Dame Mary Stuart Mother to these his Daughters He married Cordelia Stanhope his 2d Wife one of the Daughters of Sir John Stanhope in the County of Derby Kt. & had issue by her one Son only who died an Infant.[27]

References
  1. Wotton 1741, p. 107.
  2. Betham 1801, p. 37.
  3. Wotton 1741, p. 107 cites Leycester's Cheshire p. 213
  4. Amy Juhala, 'For the King Favours Them Very Strangely', in Miles Kerr-Peterson and Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power (Routledge: Abingdon, 2017), pp. 162-3: Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 65 no. 390.
  5. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p.7.
  6. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 139.
  7. Annie I. Cameron, Warrender Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1931), p. 252.
  8. John Duncan Mackie, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1597-1603, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 202.
  9. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915). p. 300.
  10. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), p. 267.
  11. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915). p. 448-9, 452, 453: Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 127-9.
  12. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915). p. 654, 656-7, 669.
  13. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 7, 17, 37, 58, 89.
  14. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 150, 157.
  15. David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), p. 121.
  16. Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 79, 84, 87, 89.
  17. Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1595-1597, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 76.
  18. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), pp. 348-9.
  19. Amy Juhala, 'For the King Favours Them Very Strangely', in Miles Kerr-Peterson and Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power (Routledge: Abingdon, 2017), pp. 162-3.
  20. Calendar State Papers Scotland vol. 13 part 1 (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 155, 210-211.
  21. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 13 part 2 (Edinburgh, 1969), p. 960 no. 780.
  22. Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 65 no. 390: See PS1/74 f104r for the pension, paid from the thirds of benefices of Melrose and Jedburgh abbeys.
  23. Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1580-1625 (London, 1872), p. 510 citing TNA SP15/37.
  24. "ASTON, Sir Roger (-d.1612), of Edinburgh and Cranfold, Mdx". History of Parliament rust. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  25. Betham 1801, pp. 37–38.
  26. St Dunstan Cranford Park, Middlesex:Monuments & Brasses in St Dunstan's, Parish of St. Dunstan with Holy Angels, Cranford — photographs of the monument
  27. Wotton 1741, pp. 107–108 cites Le Neve's Manuascript of the Baronets vol. I p.33
  • Wotton, Thomas (1741), The English baronets, a genealogical and historical account of their families, Three Daggers and Queen's-Head, against St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street: Thomas Wotton, pp. 107–108
  • Betham, William (1801), The Baronetage of England: Or The History of the English Baronets, and Such Baronets of Scotland, as are of English Families; with Genealogical Tables, and Engravings of Their Coats of Arms, 1, Burrell and Bransby, p. 37–38


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