Sir Alfred Stephen (1802 - 1894)

Date of birth:

Fri 20 August 1802

Place of birth:

Basseterre, St Christopher (St. Kitts), West Indies

Date of death:

Mon 15 October 1894

Place of death:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Parliamentary activity

Information about members' parliamentary service including their positions held and biography.

Positions
PositionStartEndPeriodNotes
Member of the NSW Legislative Council Wed 27 January 1886Mon 27 October 18904 years 9 months 1 dayLife Appointment under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 16 December 1885
Member of the NSW Legislative Council Tue 28 October 1879Mon 09 November 18856 years 13 daysLife Appointment under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 8 August 1879
Member of the NSW Legislative Council Tue 23 March 1875Thu 20 March 18793 years 11 months 26 daysLife Appointment under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 8 March 1875
Library Committee No.4 Tue 03 June 1856Wed 18 March 18579 months 16 days
Standing Order Commitee No.3 Tue 03 June 1856Wed 18 March 18579 months 16 days
Member of the NSW Legislative Council Thu 22 May 1856Fri 12 November 18582 years 5 months 22 daysFirst (Quinquennial) Appointments under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 13 May 1856.
President Tue 20 May 1856Wed 28 January 18578 months 9 days
Biography

Honours Received

Knighted in 1846; Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1862; Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1874; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1884; Privy Councillor (PC) in 1893

Personal information

Son of John, barrister and attorney. Later was a Supreme Court Judge of New South Wales, and Mary Anne, nee Pasmore. Married (1) Virginia Consett on 22 June 1824 at Holborn, Britain and had issue, 5 sons and 4 daughters. Wife died in childbirth. Married (2) Eleanor Martha Pickard on 21 July 1838 at Van Diemen's Land and had issue, 4 sons and 5 daughters. Church of England

Qualifications, occupations and interests

Lawyer. Chief Justice of New South Wales 1844 - 1873. Educated at village school Shefford, Bedfordshire, England, then Charterhouse, Reverend West Valentine's school and Honiton Grammar. Clerk to father at Basseterre 1815; returned England in 1818; entered Lincoln's Inn where read for Bar under cousins Henry and (Sir) James Stephen, the latter being future under secretary at Colonial Office; called to Bar 1823. Arrival at Van Diemen's Land with £3,000 and recommendations from James Stephen to his friend Governor Arthur 1825; Solicitor General 1825 from 1832; Attorney General from 1832 from 1837; Crown Prosecutor from 1825 until 1861. Established the colony's most lucrative private practice as a barrister, made financial speculations and invested in land. Journeyed to Sydney as a temporary judge, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1839; puisne judge from 1841 until 1844; Chief Justice 1873. Lieutenant Governor from 1875 until 1891; acted as Governor from March until August in 1879 and from November until December 1885, and from November 1890 until January 1891; administrator of government 1872. In Van Diemen's Land was founding vice-president of Hobart Town Mechanics' Institute 1827, churchwarden St David's from 1827 until 1831, Registrar Archdeacon's Court from 1828 until 1831. In New South Wales helped found St Paul's College, University of Sydney, and was founding fellow of its Council from 1856 until 1870; Fellow of Senate of the University of Sydney from 1878 until 1887; Trustee of National Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1876; President of New South Wales Academy of Art from 1873, of Civil Service Building Society from 1875 until 1882, of Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of City Night Refuge and Soup Kitchen, of Charity Organization Society, and of Industrial Blind Institution; life director of (Royal) Prince Alfred Hospital; left some organizations in 1880s but joined Primrose League. Trustee Hyde, Phillip and Cook Parks from 1878; Crown trustee of Australia Museum from 1880 until 1889; Chairman of Captain Cook Statue Committee 1873. President of Commission for Paris Universal Exhibition 1855; Vice-president for exhibitions at Paris 1878, Sydney 1879; President of New South Wales Commission for Cell and Indian Exhibition, London 1886. A frustrated legislator when judge; active Member of Legislative Council; in later life became an ardent campaigner for divorce law reform. Wrote many letters to Sydney Morning Herald, often under such pseudonyms as 'Respublica', 'Justitia', 'Nominus Umbra'. Author of Constitution, Rules, Practice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1843 until 1845; Thoughts on the Constitution of a Second Legislative Chamber for New South Wales, 1853; Address on Intemperance and the Licensing System, 1870. Lived expensively; estate valued at almost 9:12,000. Father of Sir Matthew Henry Stephen, M. C. Stephen, S. A. Stephen, and uncle of H. W. H. Stephen (qq. v.)

Additional information

Personal papers in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales: 1.
Sir Alfred Stephen - papers, 1807 - 1894 (MLMSS 211) 2. Stephen family -
diaries and correspondence, 1802 - 1961 (MLMSS 777); photographs in the PICMAN
Database. 3. Sir Alfred Stephen - papers and pictorial collection, ca. 1872 -
1894 (A149, A150, A710, A711, A179); photographs in the PICMAN Database. 4. Sir
Alfred Stephen - papers, 1807 - 1894 (A669 - A673).
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6
Text from the book: 'The Presiding Officers of the Parliament of New South
Wales', Sydney, 1995
Alfred Stephen was born on 20 August 1802 at St Kitts in the West Indies. He
married Virginia Consett in June 1824; she died in childbirth in January 1837
and he married for a second time to Eleanor Pickard in July 1838. He had five
sons and four daughters by his first marriage and four sons and five daughters
by his second marriage. Upon his father's appointment to the New South Wales
Supreme Court, Alfred Stephen accompanied his mother home to England from the
West Indies. After completing his legal studies he arrived in Van Diemen's Land
(Tasmania) in 1825 and was commissioned as Solicitor-General. Within days of
this appointment he was also selected to become Crown Prosecutor. Stephen's
work load greatly increased from 1832 when he was also appointed
Attorney-General. After a disagreement with Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, he
moved to New South Wales where he accepted a temporary position as a Judge. In
1844 he was selected to become Chief Justice in New South Wales.
Alfred Stephen was appointed to the new Legislative Council on four occasions
between 1856 and 1890. While Edward Deas Thomson declined nomination as
President of the Legislative Council on the grounds that he considered it a
political appointment, Stephen accepted the position becoming the first
President of the Legislative Council in 1856. From 1856 until 1858 Stephen used
his understanding of shortcomings in the legal system to press for legislative
remedies by introducing 14 law reform Bills, six of which were enacted. As
President, Stephen ensured the Council's role as a house of review endured
through the manner in which he guided the legislative process and suggested
constructive alterations to legislation before the House. He attempted to
mediate the 1879-80 dispute between the Assembly and the Council, and was
unsuccessful in his bid to vary the Constitution Act by altering the Council's
power to amend money bills. He died on 15 October 1894 in Sydney

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