STEER, John I

Steer has left few traces on the records, but his nomination as a tax collector in 1431 implies that he was one of the more prominent men of Northampton. It is probable also that he was a merchant: in 1430 Henry Stone* and ‘Thomas Stere, merchant’ were defendants in the court of common pleas as executors of Katherine Derby (perhaps the widow of John Derby, who had been bailiff of the town in 1411-12), and since this Thomas appears nowhere else in the records, it is likely that ‘Thomas’ is an error for ‘John’. Stone was not the only leading townsmen with whom our MP was associated, for when he was elected to Parliament in September 1435, John Bertram* was one of his mainpernors.2 CP40/678, rot. 247; C219/14/5. Nothing else is known of him.