Stephen Foster (Lord Mayor of London)

He was the son of Robert Forster of London, a stockfish merchant. Elected Sheriff of London in 1444, he became Lord Mayor of London in 1454, and served as the city's Member of Parliament in King Henry VI's 13th parliament.^[1] According to historian John Strype, Foster married a widow named Agnes, who enlarged Ludgate prison (where Forster had at one time been imprisoned for debt^[2]) and improved conditions for those incarcerated therein.^[3]

Agnes and Stephen Forster appear as characters in William Rowley's (1586–1626) play A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vexed, based on their lives.^[4]