Born at Shoreham, Sussex, the only son of Captain William James Stephens and Mary Peck (later known as Mrs Dallinger). Educated at the Bluecoat School, Hertford and at Christ’s Hospital, to which he was presented by Shute Barrington, the Bishop of Durham, from 15 May 1800 -16 September 1807, when he was placed by his uncle Admiral Stephens at the Admiralty Office, Somerset House.
Stephens interest in entomology manifested itself when he was still at school and in 1809 he began a Catalogue of British Animals that was carried up to 1812 in ms. From 1815 – 1825 his spare time was largely taken up by ornithology. In 1818 at the request of the Trustees of the British Museum, Stephens was granted leave from his office to assist William Elford Leach in arranging the insect collection. From then on he devoted himself especially to British insects and prepared a catalogue and a descriptive account of them. In May 1827 the first part of his Illustrations of British Entomology, appeared which was eventually completed in 1836 (81 parts forming 11 volumes : Mandibulata vols 1-7, Haustellata vols 1-4) with a Supplement in 1846. This was followed by A systematic Catalogue of British Insects in August 1829. In 1832 Stephens took out legal proceedings against James Rennie, whose Conspectus of British Butterflies and Moths was in large part abstracted from his volumes, but he lost his case. The feeling of his friends was so much in his favour, however, that they raised a subscription to cover his entire costs. In 1845 when he returned to the Admiralty he encountered animosity from his superiors and was prematurely retired (losing part of his pension). He then went to work unpaid at the Museum on the Lepidoptera collections. His friends attempted but failed to obtain a Civil List Pension for him. It is said of Stephens that he declined to use a microscope regularly believing that what could not be seen with the naked eye was not worth studying, and he is credited with the introduction of the killing bottle. Apart from the Illustrations Stephens main publication on beetles was his A Manual of British Coleoptera, which appeared in 1839. On his row with John Curtis see the entry in this Dictionary on Curtis and EMM, 1, 1863, p.451. On his activities in the Bristol area and the West Country see Atty (1983,iii). In his Manual (p.vii) Stephens states ‘My collections [at Eltham Cottage, Foxley Rd., Kennington in 1839] are thrown open for inspection, etc. to any gentleman upon the presentation of his card, every Wednesday evening, at which time I shall be happy to receive my entomological friends as usual’.
His collection is now in the NHM and includes Marsham’s collection which he purchased and part of Francillons also purchased (in June 1818). The identification of the Marsham specimens is explored in detail by Peter Hammond in ‘On the type material of Staphylinidae described by T.Marsham and J.F.Stephens’ (Ent Gaz., 23, pp.129-135). (See MARSHAM, Thomas for more information). His library was purchased by Stainton who continued to open it on Wednesdays and who published a catalogue, Bibliotheca Stephensiana, with a memoir of Stephens, in 1853. After his death part passed to the ESL, with many of his own books, in 1898, and part was sold by Sotheby’s on 19 April 1899. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) p.79 records a collection of duplicate insects being sold by Stephens in May 1825, and Barbara Wager’s typescript Catalogue of the History and Origins of the Insect Collections in the Museum at Cambridge mentions that another early collection amounting to about 2,000 specimens was purchased in 1829. Letters to Westwood 1826 and to Hope 1835-37, and part of Stephens’ ms for A systematic Catalogue of British Insects 1829, are in the HDO (Smith, (1986) p.88). The NHM also holds letters and other ms material including a ms Desiderata of Coleoptera and a ms of his reminiscences. (Harvey et. al. (1996) pp.199-200). Member of the first Entomological Society of London being elected on 11 June 1822. FESL 1852; President 1837-38; Vice President 1833-35, 1842, 1849, 1852; Council 1840, 1842-45, 1847, 1850. (MD 11/04, 8/17)