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Steere

In previous years the name Steer was often written as Steere. It was obviously the same name. Now the same form of name is used consistently.

Steers is registered as a separate name

Stear is probably a different name although again it was used by or for Steers in the past

The usually quoted origin of the name is that it comes from the animal steer, a castrated male bovine, usually an ox.

A man either worked with steers or resembled a steer. However other explanations have been put forward which I am looking into.

ORIGINS OF THE NAME STEER IN WEST SUSSEX

Steer is at the present day one of the more common Sussex surnames. The name was never confined to Sussex; it has long been a common name in Surrey and there are medieval instances in most counties in the southern half of England. It is now a common name in Devon as well. According to the Domesday Book the personal name Sterre was in use in Hampshire in 1086, and this could possibly have been the origin of the surname in some cases. However the frequent occurance of forms such as le Ster show the name was in most cases derived from a nickname from steer, a young castrated ox, or the use of the word steer to mean strong or stout. The widespread use of the nickname implies it must have conveyed some fairly precise image, understandable over a wide area, but it is now not possible to be sure what impression such a nickname would have given .

In Sussex during the 13th and 14th centuries there were clusters of the name around Lurgashall in the north west of the county and along the central coastal part of the county; Heene, Sompting and Beeding area. It is likely in each case that all the persons involved sprang from the same family. There was a third cluster in East Sussex. No evidence has been found that any of these families originated through migration into the county from outside. In the 15th and 16th centuries there was some expansion from the south coast cluster but a larger expansion from the north-west cluster so that the name became very numerous in the north of the county. Again there is no evidence that this expansion came from migration into the county and seems to have been due to the increase in population.

Information from The Surnames of Sussex by Richard McKinley, 1988

Philip Wilson Steer 1860 - 1942 was a painter of landscapes and occasional portraits and figure studies

Francis Steer was the county archivist in Sussex for many years and contributed much to the study of Sussex history

The 1881 listed 3489 with the name Steer (232 as Steere)

The ONS figures for 2002 give 5809 with the name Steer (326 Steere)

In 1881 the highest occurence of the name was in Devon followed by London, Sussex and Kent.

Most of the data I have so far is from Sussex, and in particular from my family. although I am daily acquiring more information on unrelated Steers, mainly in Sussex. However I am also gradually increasing my data on Steers outside of Sussex. My data comes from GRO registers, census, parish records, wills and probate, military records, poor law records, rates books, manorial records, newspapers

My most recent search has been the

Historic Hospital Admission Records Project (HHARP)

Susan Martin   martis1@hotmail.co.uk

Many genealogical tables of Steers can be found on my website www.freewebs.com/susanhistory

I soon hope to have a dedicated website to Steers up and running

GEORGE STEER

Born: 1836 Lancing

Father: John Steer

Mother: Margaret Nottingham

Baptised; 2/7/1836 Lancing

Died:      12/12/1887 North Lancing

Buried : 17/12/1887 Lancing

Married: 9/4/1887 Lancing

Spouse: Martha Quinnell. 

Born: 1855 Tunbridge Wells

Parents: Richard and Mary Ann Quinnell

Children: George Arthur Steer b1888 Lancing

Died:  1923 Steyning district

1841 census: Residing Lancing with parents and brother Thomas

1851 census: Residing Lancing with mother. Occupation: gardener

1861 census: Residing with parents Lancing.. Occupation: gardener’s labourer

1871 census: Residing with parents. Occupation: gardener. Martha residing with parents Tunbridge Wells. No occupation

1881 census: Residing with parents. Occupation: gardener. Martha was a general servant living with her brother Thomas and his family in Tonbridge, Kent where he was a railway signalman. 

1887: At time of marriage he lived Lancing, she Tunbridge Wells. He made his mark she signed. Fathers’ occupations labourer and porter. Witnessed by Charles Henry Braden and Herodias Braden

1887:  Cause of death Bright’s disease, morbus cardis, coma. Occupation: gardener domestic. Death notified Shoreham by Jane Steer sister 13/12/1887

1888:  Birth of son George Arthur in Lancing

1890: Martha remarried John Glazebrook, born 1855 in West Grinstead. At time of marriage she was living 5 Victoria Rd, and he 4 Victoria Rd. His occupation gardener, his father gardener. Witnessed by George Glazebrook, Mary Dowdney?

 Children:  Mary Jane Glazebrook born 1890 died 1892 Emily Elizabeth Glazebrook in 1891, Bessie Glazebrook born 1893 died 1895. 

1891 census: Residing t 4 Victoria Road, Portslade

1901 census: Residing 8 Crown Road, Portslade. John worked as a stableman groom.

1911 census: Residing 3 Freeman Court, Portslade. Completed by Martha, John Glazebrook not present. 4 children 2 living. George Arthur Steer a milkman, Emily Glazebrook a daily domestic servant

1921 census:Martha residing 5 Freemans Cottage Potslade with daughter Emily Elizabeth Austin and granddaughter Emily Christine 4

See NOTTINGHAM, Margaret  mother; STEER George Arthur 1888; STEER,John  father

A late and a brief marriage

Heads might have turned in Lancing on April 9 1887 when GEORGE STEER married.in the parish church of St James the Less.  He was a 51 year old bachelor who had always lived with his parents, and after the death of his father JOHN STEER he continued to live with his widowed mother MARGARET STEER (nee NOTTINGHAM) Would Margaret have resented losing her son to another woman after so many years? George’s youngest brother,JAMES STEER had married the previous month so Margaret was possibly alone, or did she live with one or other of her sons and their new wives, or then again with her daughter JANE STEER who was also living in Lancing.

As far as I know (which is only from the ten year census returns) George had always lived in Lancing, following his father in working as a domestic gardener.Why hadn’t he married before, Was it lack of opportunity, disinclination or had he been unhappy in love? And how did he come to meet his wife Martha? MARTHA QUINNELL was born in 1854 in Tunbridge Wells the daughter of Richard Quinnell, a railway porter, and Mary Ann. The Maidstone Chronicle 16/7/1870 reported she had [at 15] won 1st prize for the myrtle category of the Tunbridge Wells Cottage Window Flower Show. She was still at her parents house when the 1871 census was taken, with no occupation given. The end of the decade saw a series of bereavements for Martha; her father died in 1879, her mother in 1880 and her eldest brother John in 1881. John’s widow Emma gave birth to a son Ebenezer a few months after her husband's death. There would soon be a parallel to this.

So how did George and Martha meet? On the 1881 census she was living with her brother Thomas, a signalman. in Tunbridge Wells, and she is described as a general servant. The likeliest answer was that she had moved to Lancing or its surrounding area as a servant, though we cannot rule out that she had a relative in the area whom I haven;t found. On the marriage certificate she gave her place of residence as Tunbridge Wells. I cannot imagine a reason for George becoming a visitor to Tunbridge Wells.Fancifully I would like to think that they met through a lonely hearts page in a newspaper or a magazine.

Anyhow George and Martha did meet and they wed on Easter Saturday 1887. The witnesses were CHARLES HENRY BRADON and his wife Herodias. Charles Braden was a labourer living in Shoreham. He wa, a few years younger than Charles and I assume he and George were friends. Herodias was born a Winton and a distant cousin of George, though it is very unlikely that they were aware of the connection.

Would Geoge have married if he was unwell? He must surely have started to feel poorly soon after as on 12 December he died from Bright;s disease and heart disease, which by then had caused him to fall into a coma. Bright’s disease had been recognised earlier in the century and it encompassed a variety of kidney diseases. George probably suffered from swelling of various parts of the body, problems in passing urine, signs of high blood pressure, and  cardiac problems. If and when he consulted a doctor he might have been prescribed laxatives and diuretics, possibly digitalis, mercuric compounds, opium and ,warned off alcohol. Cheese and red meat.  This does not seem to have been a disease you usually died from very quickly. (please correct me if any of this is incorrect, or anything else about Bright’s disease.  I rely on Wikipedia)  

George’s death was notified in Shoreham the next day by his sister Jane Steer, my great grandmother. His death must have hit his mother hard and she followed her son to St Jame’s churchyard Lancing at the end of the year. But this is not the end of George’s story. Martha remained in Lancing and on 8 May 1888 she gave birth to a son who was baptised GEORGE ARTHUR STEER on 10J une. A son for a  father, who had waited over 50 years to have a child, and one who he would never see, 

Martha remarried not long after on 18 February 1890 in Portslade. She was already expecting a daughter Mary Jane who was born on 31 May. JOHN GLAZEBROOK was variously described as a carman or tableman and groom.  Mary Jane’s birth  was quickly followed by Emily Elizabeth in 1891 and Bessie in 1893. Sadly Mary Jane died in 1892 and Bessie in 1895. By the 1911 census John seemed to have disappeared. In that year Martha was living alone with George Arthur who was a milkman, and Emily and in 1921 Martha was at the same address, 5 Freeman’s Cottages Portslade, with Emily and granddaughter Emily Christine Austin. Emily was a war widow and her daughter Emily was born less than six months before her father Sergeant Harry James Austin was killed on 8 April 1917. Almost certainly another case of a father who never saw his child.  Martha died in 1923. 

A final thought. When reading on Bright’s disease I learnt that some of the kidney diseases covered by the term could be hereditary. Well my grandfather George Edward Steer, George’s nephew died from uremia and nephritis, two of the kidney diseases (though he was 78) and my father had gout, caused by a build of uric acid, also related. George’s mother had dropsy and cardiac disease, so were these connected to kidney disease?. It will be interesting to see what the death certificates of George’s three brothers will reveal,  although they all  lived much longer than he did, as did his son George Arthur who was 71 when he died.