STETON, John

The earliest certain reference to Steton, a burgess of unknown antecedents, is his appointment as one of the chamberlains of Kingston-upon-Hull at Michaelmas 1423.4 It is unclear whether he should be identified with the John Steton, ‘clerk’, who became a freeman of the borough in 1418: bench bk. 2, BRE 1, p. 253. Three years later, he took on the role of an auditor of the chamberlains’ accounts, a duty he would perform on no fewer than six occasions in all, and in 1427-8 he served as bailiff of the town. A year after completing his term as bailiff, he was returned to the Commons alongside the experienced parliamentarian Robert Kirkton*. While there is no direct evidence of their activities at Westminster, it is likely they were involved in debates over the subsidies that the Commons granted to the Crown, the first of the reign to date and important enough to attract the attention of several chroniclers. There survives a copy of a letter that the MPs for Bishop’s Lynn sent to the mayor of their borough during the Parliament, informing him that the merchants of London, Bristol, York, Hull and elsewhere intended to lobby the knights of the shire, in an attempt to restrict the scope of these taxes.5 Norf. RO, King’s Lynn bor. recs., translation of hall bk., 1422-9, 1450, KL/C 7/29, p. 279; PROME, x. 371-2. At the very least, Steton and Kirkton must have taken a keen interest in the matter, since both of them – like most of the leading burgesses of Hull – were merchants.

The only known record of Steton’s mercantile activities is a solitary customs account recording that he imported six tuns of wine and a quantity of saltfish in 1453.6 Customs Accts. Hull, 1453-90 (Yorks. Arch. Rec. Ser. cxliv), 8, 10. By contrast, the evidence for his time as controller of the customs and subsidies at Hull, a position he held for some years, is relatively plentiful. The chronology of his first period in that office is confused, since he was already exercising it well before 15 Aug. 1433, the date of his earliest extant letters of appointment.7 CPR, 1429-36, p. 224. In November 1430, for example, he appeared in person before the barons of the Exchequer to inform them of his seizure of a cargo of un-cocketted woollen cloth and blankets earlier that month. They authorized him to appraise this merchandise before the mayor of Hull, and in due course it was valued at £38 19s. Steton again appeared in the Exchequer in June the following year, on this occasion with Thomas Elyngham, one of the collectors of customs of Hull. They reported their seizure of a local vessel, the Cristofur, for attempting to sail to Iceland without the necessary licence. Finally, in Michaelmas term 1434, the Exchequer ordered Steton and the customers at Hull to answer for a cargo of wool that a ship from the port had seized from a Dutch vessel.8 E159/207, recorda Mich. rot. 13, Easter rot. 13; 211, recorda Mich. rots. 14, 25d. During his second term as controller, Steton went to the trouble of purchasing a royal pardon, dated 12 Jan. 1447 and made out to him as the holder of that office.9 C67/39, m. 7.

Steton combined his duties as controller of customs with a leading role in the administration of his town. By late 1442 he was one of the aldermen of White Friars ward, and at Michaelmas 1447 he was elected mayor, an office which, unusually, he held for two consecutive terms. While in office he was involved in a dispute with the mayor of York, John Karr*, to whom the King had entrusted the task of inquiring into illegal trade with Iceland after the Hull authorities had failed to act on an earlier commission to do so. In 1448 or early 1449, Karr and several fellow York merchants sued our MP, John Spencer I* and Richard Anson*, claiming that the defendants had secured false indictments against them in revenge for the making of that inquiry and that, as a result, the merchants of York dare no longer pursue their commercial activities in the port. This prompted the King to order the Hull authorities to desist from their intimidation on pain of £500.10 C1/17/111; Kingston-upon-Hull recs., corporation letters BRL 1.

Within a few months of stepping down as mayor, Steton was elected coroner of Hull at an extraordinary meeting of the town council, and he remained active in municipal government throughout the early 1450s. In January 1454 he was among the aldermen who decided to send the mayor, Richard Anson, to London to plead on their behalf regarding their right to hold the admiralty court in the town. In the following year he attended the disputed mayoral election of Nicholas Ellis*, and he was among the aldermen who decided to banish those who had disrupted the proceedings. His last recorded attendance at a council meeting was on 15 Dec. 1456.11 Bench bk. 3a, BRB 1, ff. 32v, 47, 57.

Beyond the evidence provided by his will, there is scanty information for Steton’s personal affairs. He seems, however, to have been particularly close to John Tutberry (d.1433), a mercer and four times mayor of Hull, for in his will Tutberry appointed him one of his executors and bequeathed to him a quarter share in a ship, Le Peter of Hull. Tutberry also named Steton, alongside his co-executors, John Bedford† and John Snayton, as one of the feoffees of a chantry he wished to establish. Shortly after Tutberry died, his widow likewise named Steton, Bedford and Snayton as her executors.12 York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, f. 667v; reg. 3, ff. 371-2v. In May 1445 Bedford and Steton received a licence to grant two of Tutberry’s messuages to the corporation, but it was not until 20 years after the latter’s death that Steton, by then the only surviving feoffee, made a final assignment of property for the endowment of his chantry in Holy Trinity church.13 CPR, 1441-6, p. 366; C143/150/8.

When Steton made his own will, on 2 Feb. 1459, he sought burial in the parish church of St. Mary at Hull and made arrangements for a modest funeral costing only 20s. He assigned robes and a gift of 20s. in cash to two dependants, his apprentice and kinsman, William ‘Stevyngton’, and a servant, William Forster, and a piece of silverware to John Ricard, a local merchant involved in the Icelandic trade. Steton also directed Ricard to deliver a similar piece – previously a gift to the testator from another merchant, Robert Shakles – to the prioress of the convent at Swine in Holderness. Steton left his house in Hull to his widow, Alice, to hold for life; although if she chose to sell it the proceeds were to be divided between Alice and Agnes, the daughters of William Arnald, and John and Thomas, the sons of John Ricard. Steton named Alice as sole executor of the will, for which probate was granted just 12 days later. He appears to have died childless.14 York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, f. 394.