ASTON, ARTHUR [SSNE 1869]

Surname: ASTON, ASHTON, ASTIN, AUSTIN, ASTONG, ASHDON, ASDON
First name: ARTHUR
Title/rank: SIR, COLONEL
Nationality: ENGLISH
Social status: OFFICER
Religion: CATHOLIC

Text source

Sir Arthur Aston was an Englishman who had first been sent to Ducal Prussia in 1611 on an embassy from King James VI and I. By June 1612 he was in Archangel along with 20 other officers who were offering their service for Muscovy. Aston returned to Britain to recruit in 1613. He was accused by the Russian Ambassador in Britain of treachery and bad mouthing the Tsar. However Aston was soon recruiting troops for the Poles instead, again with the king's permission.

His son served in the same locations and is equally accused. Despite this Aston and his family returned to Moscow in 1615, where he was arrested and needed James' intercession to be released. Aston then returned to Polish service and in 1621 he was again in Britain when he hired two ships to take 360 men to Poland, travelling himself in a third ship with 300 men. Apparently over 2000 men (largely English and Irish) embarked, King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway held most of them up in the Sound, resulting in a mere 300 Scots and Irish arriving in Danzig.

Aston was imprisoned in Marshalsea prison after another complaint, in 1622, by the Russian ambassador that recruits were being obtained for use against Russia. This probably the same Aston whom the Swedes believed was working with Robert Stewart [SSNE 529] recruiting soldiers for the Polish army. In 1623 Aston became embroiled in a dispute with King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland over expenses for his recruitment efforts, and the debts were not settled until 1631. James Spens [SSNE 1642] mentioned meeting Sir Arthur Ashton in Flekkeroe, Norway when both of them travelling separately were blown into that harbour by stormy winds. Ashton had already been held up for 6 weeks by bad weather in Denmark and Langesund in Norway. Spens was unable to learn whether Aston intended to take service for the King of Poland - Spens did not find this surprising as he claimed that Aston was a 'deadly enemy' of Rober Stewart. But Aston had indeed left his son in Poland, and it is possible that it was this Ashton/Aston jr. who later was captured by the Swedes.

Certainly, Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna heard news of a 'Colonel Aston, senior' making his way to Denmark presumably with the intention of levying. An officer by the name of Aston was captured by the Swedes whilst in Polish service in September 1626, although he is alternately referred to as a colonel, a captain (although this may be his son [SSNE 7299])and a major. In September 1627 "Major" Aston was still a Swedish prisoner and he sought permission to obtain visitation rights for his brother-in-law. He then joined the Swedish army where he served as colonel of an infantry regiment. In January 1627 Chancellor Oxenstierna referred to a large portion of Aston's (former?) soldiers being killed by a Swedish captain called Stork, and in April Aston's company was being shipped away from Pudzich. It appears that Aston sought release, but in July 1627 the Poles requested a prisoner exchange. Instead of going back, Aston took his men "especially the Scots", as requested by Gustav II Adolf, into Swedish service in October 1629. He accompanied the king on his Lutzen campaign in 1632, where Gustav Adolf was killed. At this time he served as colonel of an English regiment (as recorded by Monro), and was granted 9600 riksdalers worth of recruitment money on 30 March that year (according to Conrad von Falkenberg).

In 1633 Aston served under the command of field-marshall Dodo von Knyphausen in the Lower Saxon Circle and took part in the successful siege of the Weser-fortress of Hameln, which was occupied by Imperialist troops. From May until 16th June 1634 he was governour of Osnabruck (his regiment now mixed nationality) and thereafter he was ordered by Axel Oxenstierna to go to Hildesheim. on 23 July 1635 some four companies of Aston's regiment were ordered to join up with Claus Diederich Spereutter during the chaos surounding the Treaty of Prague negotiations.

The following year Aston served as commandant (governor) at Nienburg in 1636 (where he had already served in 1635 according to Wilhelm of Hessen-Kassel). Chancellor Oxenstierna noted that Aston's 1000 troops were vital to the Swedish forces in Westphalia at that time, from February-March 1636. We know that some of these were Germans. Colonel William Vavasour stated emphatically that the Duke of Lüneburg’s defection left him stranded in enemy territory and in great danger. Wounded, he was forced to leave his remaining 300 men with colleagues; the English soldiers of his company were sent to the Scot, Colonel James Lumsden while the Germans were sent to Vavasour’s countryman, Colonel Aston. In December 1636, Aston met again with Wilhelm of Hessen-Kassel.

Aston returned to Britain at the start of the Covenanting rebellion and was sergeant major general in 1640. He was knighted in 1641 and became colonel-general of Royalist dragoons in the Civil War in 1642 at Edgehill. He received the governorship of Reading, and was wounded during its seige. In 1643 he was governor of Oxford, and was pensioned in 1644. By 1649 he became governor of Drogheda, being killed when the town was captured by Cromwell's forces. After being offered quarter, his garrison was slaughtered, and Aston beaten to death with his own wooden leg.

Sources: Swedish Riksarkiv, Anglica 5, 18 December (OS), 1624; Swedish Riksarkiv, E724, 18 December 1624; Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas Skrifter och Brevvexling (Stockholm, 1956), second series, I, p.531; ibid, III, pp.355, 432, 516, 572, 580, 584, 586, 631; ibid, vol.7, pp.493, 604 note; ibid, vol. XI, pp.600-601; ibid, vol.15, pp.165 and 290; SRA, AOSB, E749. William Vavasour to Axel Oxenstierna, 15 February 1636; R. Monro, His Expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mac-Keys, (2 vols., London, 1637), II, p.102 and List of Scottish Officers, English sub-section; S. Konovalov, Oxford Slavonic Papers, Vol. 4, 1953.

George Steinman Steinman, 'Memoir of Sir Arthur Aston', in The Gentleman’s Magazine, 155 (London, 1834), pp.144-150; W. Barnhill and P. Dukes, 'North-east Scots in Muscovy in the seventeenth century' in Northern Scotland, vol. 1, no. 1, 1972, pp.49-63; R. Frost, "Scottish soldiers, Poland-Lithuania and the Thirty Years' War" in S. Murdoch ed. Scotland and the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 (Brill, 2001), pp.201-2, pp.204-9, p.211; Dictionary of National Biography; Margret TEGEDER/Axel KREIENBRINK, "... der osnabrugischenn handlung und geschicht". Die Chronik des Rudolf von Bellinckhausen 1628-1637 (Osnabruck, 2002), pp. 280, 312. Thanks to Dr Bernd Warlich for his valuable contribution to this article.

See also Tagebuch (Schreibkalender) des Landgrafen Wilhelm V. von Hessen-Kassel housed in Universitäts-, Landes- und Murrhardt’sche Bibliothek, Kassel. 8o Ms. Hassiaca 7. Two very brief notices place him with the Count in December 1636. With thanks to Angus Fowler for passing these on.

English Civil War; Bishops Wars

Service record

STUART KINGDOMS, DUCAL PRUSSIA: Arrived 1611-01-01; Capacity DIPLOMAT, purpose DIPLOMACY
RUSSIA, RUSSIAN ARMY: Arrived 1612-06-01, as COLONEL; Departed 1613-12-31, as COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER AND RECRUITER, purpose MILITARY
RUSSIA and POLAND, BRITAIN: Arrived 1613-01-01; Capacity RECRUITING OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
RUSSIA, MOSCOW: Arrived 1615-01-01; Departed 1616-12-31; Capacity PRISONER, purpose INTENDED MILITARY
POLAND-LITHUANIA, POLISH ARMY, and briefly MARSHLEA PRISON, LONDON: Arrived 1621-01-01, as COLONEL; Departed 1622-12-31, as COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
POLAND-LITHUANIA, POLISH ARMY, possibly PRISONER OF THE SWEDES: Arrived 1625-01-01, as OFFICER; Departed 1631-12-31, as OFFICER; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, SWEDISH ARMY: Arrived 1629-10-24, as COLONEL; Departed 1638-12-31, as COLONEL; Capacity COLONEL OF ENGLISH, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, OSNABRUCK: Arrived 1634-05-01, as COLONEL; Departed 1634-06-30, as COLONEL; Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY AND CIVIC
SWEDEN, NIENBURG: Arrived 1636-02-01, as COLONEL; Departed 1636-03-31, as COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER AND COMMANDANT, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, STUART ARMY IN SCOTLAND: Arrived 1640-01-01, as SGT MAJ GENERAL; Departed 1641-12-31, as SGT MAJ GENERAL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, STUART ARMY IN ENGLAND, EDGEHILL: Arrived 1642-01-01, as COLONEL GENERAL; Departed 1644-12-31, as COLONEL GENERAL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, READING: Arrived 1642-01-01, as GOVERNOR; Departed 1642-12-31, as GOVERNOR; Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, OXFORD: Arrived 1643-01-01, as GOVERNOR; Departed 1643-12-31, as GOVERNOR; Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, DROGHEDA: Arrived 1649-01-01, as GOVERNOR; Departed 1649-12-31, as GOVERNOR; Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY