Stephen, JAMES, born at Poole, in Dorsetshire, of an Aberdonian stock, in 1758, was educated at Winchester, and became successively a parliamentary reporter, an official in St Kitts, an advocate in prize cases before the Privy-council, member for Tralee, under-secretary for the colonies, and a master of the Court of Chancery. He died at Bath, 10th October 1832. He was an abolitionist, and author of an able and exhaustive work on The Slavery of the British West Indies (1824-30).
HENRY JOHN STEPHEN (1787-1864), his son, was a sergeant-at-law, the author of a Summary of the Criminal Law (1834), New Commentaries on the Laws of England (1841), &c.—The third son, SIR JAMES STEPHEN (1789-1859), from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, passed in 1813 to Lincoln's Inn, and became counsel to the Colonial Office and Board of Trade, then under-secretary of state for the colonies from 1834 to 1847, when he was knighted. From 1849 he was regius professor of Modern History at Cambridge. See the Memoir prefixed to the 4th edition of his Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography (1849), another well-known work by him being Lectures on the History of France (1851).—The youngest son, SIR GEORGE STEPHEN (1794-1879), was successively a solicitor and barrister, was knighted in 1837 for his services in the reform of the poor-laws, imprisonment for debt, and the police force; in 1855 emigrated to Victoria; and like his father wrote on the slavery question.
SIR JAMES FITZJAMES STEPHEN, son of Sir James Stephen, was born at Keusington, 3d March 1829, and educated at Eton, King's College, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge. Taking his B.A. (1852), and called to the bar at the Inner Temple (1854), he travelled the Midland Circuit, and became recorder of Newark-on-Trent (1859-69), a Q.C. (1868), legal member of the Viceroy of India's Council (1869-72), professor of Common Law at the Inns of Court (1875-79), a K.C.S.I. (1877), and judge of the High Court of Justice (1879-91), on his retirement being created a baronet. The Indian Evidence Act was due to him; and among his works are a General View of the Criminal Law of England (1863); Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity (1873); Digest of the Law of Evidence (1876); Digest of the Criminal Law (1877); History of the Criminal Law of England (1883); Story of Nuncomar (1885); and Hore Sabbaticæ (Saturday Review articles, 1892). He unsuccessfully contested Harwich (1865) and Dundee (1873) as a moderate Liberal. He died 12th March 1894.—His younger brother, LESLIE STEPHEN, born at Kensington, 28th November 1832, was educated at Eton, King's College, London, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where, having graduated in 1854, he was for a time a fellow and tutor. Then relinquishing his orders and removing to London, he became editor of the Cornhill (1871-82), and of the first twenty-six volumes of the great Dictionary of National Biography (1885-91, from 1890 conjointly with Mr Sidney Lee, his successor). His works include The Playground of Europe (1871; he was president for a while of the Alpine Club); the delightful Hours in a Library (3 vols. 1874-79); History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (1876); Johnson (1878), Pope (1880), and Swift (1882) in the 'Men of Letters' series; Science of Ethics (1882); lives of Mr Fawcett (1885) and his brother (1895); An Agnostic's Apology (1893); Social Rights and Duties (1896); and he has written largely for the magazines. He is LL.D. of Cambridge.