[a] Edward was the eldest son of Sir Walter Aston and his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of James Leveson of Lilleshall, Shropshire.
[1] Sir Edward was a wealthy man: he had estates in the counties of Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, which produced an annual income of £10,000.
[1] In the year 1587, Sir Edward Aston was the head of the commission appointed by Queen Elizabeth I, to examine the letters and seal up the papers and effects of Mary Queen of Scots, who was then a prisoner at Chartley Castle.
It was at this time that the Babington Plot for carrying off the Queen of Scots, was discovered.
Anthony Babington, the ringleader, though not the originator of the Plot, had intended to surprise her guards and attendants, and to carry her off while she was taking the exercise of riding in the fields between Chartley and Stafford.