Family and Education

m. bef. Oct. 1389, Agnes.

Offices Held

Tax collector, Worcester Dec. 1380, Nov. 1404.

Bailiff, Worcester Mich. 1392-3, 1395-6.1

Biography

Stevens, who traded as a draper in Worcester,2 was often mentioned in local deeds. In February 1371 he became a co-founder, with Thomas Lichfield^† and Richard Norton^†, of a chantry in the chapel of the Holy Trinity, Worcester. In both 1382 and 1385 he found mainprise for the city’s parliamentary representatives, having in the meantime, in January 1385, served on the jury at the local bailiffs’ court. His property included gardens off the High Street, and together with his wife he received rents from two tenements situated elsewhere. In 1397 he acquired premises in the High Street itself, which he then leased to a local tailor. Meanwhile, in 1393 he had obtained a 40-year lease from Worcester priory of the manor of Barnshall, for which he agreed to pay an annual rent of eight marks.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. Worcs. Chs. (Worcs. Hist. Soc. 1909), 193; Almoner’s Bk. Worcester Priory (ibid. 1911), 24.
• 2. E101/345/11; Collectanea (Worcs. Hist. Soc. 1912), ii.
• 3. CPR, 1370-4, p. 48; C219/8/8, 12; Collectanea, 27-29, 51, 66; T. R. Nash, Worcs. ii. 327.