Augustine Steward

[1] He was admitted a Freeman of the City of Norwich on 12 March, 1516 and after serving for some years on the common council was elected an alderman in 1526, a position he was to retain until his death.

He became the government’s leading supporter in Norwich, and his "good services" to the King earned him the praise of the Duke of Norfolk and of Sir Roger Townshend who commended him to Thomas Cromwell.

Steward continued to pursue the matter, approaching Cromwell in May 1537 for his favour and later asking the minister to reverse Wolsey’s judgment placing the cathedral outside the city’s jurisdiction.

In 1538 he and his kinsman Edward Rede, after consultation with the Duke, asked Cromwell for his assistance to this end, and when the house was suppressed it was granted to the city on 1 June 1540, Steward himself paying the £81 required.

Little has come to light about the commercial activity which yielded Steward his considerable wealth, but there is a reference to a venture of about 1530 in which, with his father-in-law Reginald Lytilprowe and others, he had a factor at Danzig to freight a ship to a value of 800 marks for a voyage to Great Yarmouth.