286 COMPLETE PEERAGE aston Herts, by his 2nd wife, Gertrude, da. of Robert Markham, ofCotham, Notts. She, who was confirmed by the Bp. of Chalcedon, i Apr. 1627, and had a pension o( £^0 p.a. from the King in 1628, was living 3 June 1635, and, in her issue, was h. to her br. Ralph Sadleir, of Standon, who d. s.p. 12 Feb. 1660. He d. 13 Aug. 1639, and was ^«r. at St. Mary's, Stafford. (*) Will dat. 3 June 1635, pr. 31 Oct. 1639. II. 1639. 2. Walter (Aston), Lord Aston of Forfar [S.], ist surv. s. and h., />. 1609. He was a gallant adherent of Charles I, and was at the siege of Lichfield, 1646, and at the surrender of Oxford, after which he had to compound for his estates and live in retire- ment. In 1660 he inherited the estate of Standon, Herts., from his maternal uncle, Ralph Sadleir, abovenamed. He m., in 1629, Mary, 2nd da. of Richard (Weston), ist Earl of Portland, by his ist wife, Eliza- beth, da. of William Pincheon, of Writtle, Essex. He d. 23 Apr. 1678, aged 69, at Tixall, and was iur. at St. Mary's, Stafford, above loco people accompanying his corpse. (*") His widow, who was l>ap. 2 Jan. 1602/3, at Roxwell, Essex, was living Aug. 1678. (") III. 1678. 3, Walter (Aston), Lord Aston of Forfar [S.], s. and h., I?. 1633 at Tixall. Along with other 'Popish Lords ' (*) he was strictly imprisoned in the Tower in 1679, being charged with misprision of treason. May 1680, for his supposed share in the plot fabricated by Titus Oates. He was not released until June 1685. He was Lord Lieut, co. Stafford 1687-89, and remained loyal to James II on the landing of William of Orange. At the election of Scottish Rep. Peers, 8 Oct. 1 713, a protest was made by him that the patent granted to his grandfather in 1627 should be read, and his name enrolled according to the date thereof (*) He m., istly, about 1657, Eleanor, widow of Robert Knightley, of Offchurch, co. Warwick, da. of Sir Walter Blount, of Sodington, ist Bart., by Elizabeth, da. of George Wylde, of Droitwich. She d. 3 Dec. 1674. He m., 2ndly, apparently after 1680, Catherine, da. (") He was patron of the poet Drayton. V.G. () " The munificent Lord Aston " removed from Tixall to Standon. His table was daily served with 20 dishes at a course, 3 courses the year about, and 4 servants waited behind his own chair — his gentleman, his house Steward, his chief park-keeper, and his footman. For his services at Lichfield the King wrote him a special letter, 6 June 1646, in which he said, "The greatest of my misfortunes is, that I cannot reward such gallant and loyal subjects as you are, as I ought or would." [ex inform. Major Francis Skeet.) V.G. ("^) " She grew melancholy and lost her wits, keeping almost perpetual silence, and refusing nourishment. " (Letter of Sir Edward Southcote, her daughter's husband.) V.G. C) See, for a list of these, antf, p. 264, note " c. " (') His predecessors, having been Roman Catholics, were precluded from sitting in the Scottish Pari. It is probably owing to this fact that the title is not on the Union Roll (1707), nor in the return made by the Lords of Session to the House of Lords in 1740.
