in the Forrest-Heather Part Books now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Return to Leicester After 1510 he may have lived in London, and it is suggested that he may have had some association with the court of Henry VIII. In 1517 he is recorded in the Leicester Borough Records Hall Book as being admitted as a 'Freeman and Burgess of the Borough of Leicester'. The brief entry reads, "Hugo Aston de eadem gent". The de eadem means 'of the same' referring to the column heading 'de Leicester', meaning he was born in Leicester. The absence of any qualification shows he was a freeman 'as of right', as the son of a freeman. The term 'gent' (Gentleman) is unusual as it would normally state a person's trade or profession. Rather than implying nobility, in this instance it would seem to be acknowledging his status as a university graduate. In 1520/21 he was paid by the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, to advise on the purchase and installing of a new organ. With the pre-1528 Newarke College account books missing from the records, the earliest documentation for Aston's role as choir-master at Leicester is found in the Lincoln Diocesan Records. Aston was called to give testimony as part of Bishop Longland's Visitation on 27 & 28 November 1525. Amongst the long list of injunctions contained in the Bishop's response was a requirement that the Dean and Canons appoint choral vicars of proper competence and suitability, and not appoint 'unteachable' boy choristers. Also during 1525 the same Bishop Longland had recommended Aston to Cardinal Wolsey as a candidate for founder director of music at his new Cardinal's College, Oxford, (now Christ Church College and Cathedral). However Longland had to report that Hugh Aston preferred to stay in Leicester 'considering his greate wages which he alligith in perpetuity' (i.e. he claims they were promised to him for life). Wolsey appointed John Taverner to the Oxford post instead. From 1531 there are Duchy of Lancaster account books showing that Hugh Aston's 'greate wages' amounted to £10 per year, and rose to £12 from 1539. His appointment in Leicester was that of Keeper of the Organs and Magister Choristerorum (Master of the Choristers) at the major Royal foundation, the Hospital and College of St Mary of the Annunciation. This was first established by Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster in 1330,