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Lot Essay
The sitter was the eldest grandson of the Hon. Henry Hervey (1708-1748), fifth son of John, 1st Earl of Bristol. Henry Hervey's wife, Catherine, was heir and eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Aston, 3rd Bt., of Aston, and when her brother, Sir Thomas Aston, 4th Bt., died without children in 1744, she inherited the family estate of Aston Hall, in Aston-by-Sutton, Yorkshire, and her husband assumed the surname of Aston. Their son, the sitter's father, Henry Hervey Aston, Sheriff of Cheshire (1768), married Catherine, daughter of William Dicconson, of Wrightington, Lancashire, in 1758. The sitter, Henry Hervey Aston, is likely to have been born circa 1760. He married the Hon. Harriet Ingram-Shepherd, fourth of the five daughters and co-heirs of Charles, 9th and last Viscount Irvine of Temple Newsam, Yorkshire. Henry Hervey Aston was made Colonel and died in Madras on 23 December 1798 as the result of a wound that he received in a duel with Major Allen.
The family estate, Aston Hall, in Aston-by-Sutton, was built in 1668 by Sir Willoughby Aston (1640-1702) to replace an earlier house. The new house was considered sumptous, a tall classical brick house with twin hipped roofs and a raised central attic. The grounds were improved by Humphrey Repton (1752-1818) and Samuel Wyatt (1737-1807) advised on alternations. Most of the Hall was demolished in 1938, only a 1696 dovecot, a Georgian dower house, two lodges (one by Wyatt) and extensive walled gardens survive.
The family estate, Aston Hall, in Aston-by-Sutton, was built in 1668 by Sir Willoughby Aston (1640-1702) to replace an earlier house. The new house was considered sumptous, a tall classical brick house with twin hipped roofs and a raised central attic. The grounds were improved by Humphrey Repton (1752-1818) and Samuel Wyatt (1737-1807) advised on alternations. Most of the Hall was demolished in 1938, only a 1696 dovecot, a Georgian dower house, two lodges (one by Wyatt) and extensive walled gardens survive.