I have a circuit where many NPN BJTs are interfacing 3.3 V GPIOs with higher voltage circuitry. Each application has a similar setup to the image below (resistor R422 is what's in question). I did this myself, but I am not sure where I got the idea to add resistors from the base to GND, and someone recently inquired about this and I couldn't give a good answer. Do these resistors serve a purpose?
As a side note, these transistors are being used for simple on/off purposes and are not on fast data transmission lines.