Arthur Aston (English Army officer)

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Sir Arthur Aston (1590 - 1649) was a lifelong professional soldier, most noted for his support for King Charles I in the English Civil War, and in folklore for the gruesome manner of his death.

He was a native of Cheshire and from a prominent Roman Catholic family. He became a soldier some time in the late 1620s and served the King of Poland, then commanded an English regiment in the service of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.

In 1640, he commanded a regiment for King Charles in the Second Bishops' War. There was uneasiness in many quarters about his religion, and he was forced to resign his command, although he received a knighthood for his services. In 1642, When the English Civil War broke out, Charles initially refused to employ him, but Prince Rupert of the Rhine persuaded him to do so before Parliament did. Aston was employed as Colonel General of Dragoons, and served in this capacity during the Edgehill campaign.

When Charles occupied Oxford and made it his wartime capital, Aston was made commander of an outpost at Reading, where he became unpopular through his authoritarian methods. He was wounded when Reading was besieged and captured by the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex. Exchanged, he became Sergeant-Major General of Horse to Prince Rupert, and fought at the First Battle of Newbury.

He became Governor of Oxford in late 1643, and again made himself unpopular, until he lost a leg as a result of a fall from a horse in September 1644, and was relieved as Governor. He received a large pension from the King, but did not serve in office during the rest of the First English Civil War.

In 1648, he joined the Earl of Ormonde, who had recently been made Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Confederates and other Royalist forces in Ireland. Aston was made governor of the vital port of Drogheda.

In 1649, Oliver Cromwell's forces attacked the town in the Siege of Drogheda, one of the most vicious episodes of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. When the town was stormed, the garrison was massacred by the victorious Parliamentarian soldiers. Aston was beaten to death with his own wooden leg, which the soldiers thought hid gold coins.