Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Stephenson, Frederick Charles Arthur
STEPHENSON, Sir FREDERICK CHARLES ARTHUR (1821–1911), general, born in London on 17 July 1821, was son of Sir Benjamin Charles Stephenson, K.C.H., surveyor-general of the board of works by his wife Maria, daughter of the Rev. Sir Peter Rivers, sixth baronet. He was present as a page of honour at the coronation of William IV on 8 Sept. 1831, and thereby became entitled to a commission in the army. He joined the Scots Guards as a lieutenant on 25 July 1837, and was promoted captain on 13 Jan. 1843. He was appointed brigade major in April 1854, and attained the rank of lieut.-colonel on 20 June following. He served throughout the Crimean war with his regiment. He was engaged at the battles of Alma and Inkerman, and during the siege of Sevastopol he acted as military secretary to General Sir James Simpson [q. v.], who succeeded to the command of the British troops in the Crimea on 28 June 1855. For his services Stephenson received the medal with four clasps, the legion of honour, and the fourth class of the order of the Mejidie. In 1857 he sailed for China, and was wrecked in the transport vessel Transit off the straits of Banca. Although some of the troops under his charge were diverted to India, where the Mutiny had just broken out, Stephenson himself proceeded to China, where he was nominated assistant adjutant-general to the force under Sir Charles Van Straubenzee [q. v.]. He took part in the capture of Canton (5 Jan. 1858), and after the conclusion of peace at Tientsin he remained with the army of occupation. He was gazetted C.B., and was twice mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 5 Mar., 15 Oct. 1858). On the renewal of hostilities in 1860 he shared in Sir Hope Grant's expedition and was present at the storming of the Taku forts (21 Aug.) and the capture of Pekin (15 Oct.). Stephenson was awarded the Chinese medal with three clasps, and on his return home he was promoted colonel on 15 Feb. 1861. In 1868 he was given the command of the Scots fuslliers, and was advanced to major-general. From 1876 to 1879 he commanded the brigade of guards, and meanwhile he attained the rank of lieut.-general on 23 Feb. 1878.
In May 1883 Stephenson succeeded Sir Archibald Alison [q. v. Suppl. II] as commander of the army of occupation in Egypt. After the defeat of Valentine Baker [q. v. Suppl. I] at El Teb on 4 Feb. 1884 he organised the expedition under Sir Gerald Graham [q. v. Suppl. I] for the relief of Tokar and the defence of Suakin. In the following May, when the British government was contemplating the despatch of an expedition to the relief of Charles George Gordon [q. v.], Stephenson made urgent representations to Lord Hartington [q. v. Suppl. II] in favour of an advance on Khartoum by the Suakin-Berber route. His scheme, however, was rejected by the cabinet, and the Nile expedition proposed by Lord Wolseley was carried out in opposition to Stephenson's advice. He was nominated K.C.B. in 1884, and after the evacuation of the Sudan he took command of the frontier field force. On 30 Dec. 1885 he inflicted a severe defeat on the main body of the Mahdists at Giniss. For his services he received the thanks of parliament, the G.C.B., and the grand cross of the order of Mejidie. He resigned his command in 1887 and returned to England. In 1889 he became colonel of the Lancashire and Yorkshire regiment, and in 1892 he succeeded to the colonelcy of the Coldstream guards. He was made constable of the Tower of London in 1898. He died unmarried in London on 10 March 1911, and was buried at Brompton cemetery. A cartoon portrait by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1887.
[The Times, 11 March 1911; Daily Telegraph, 13 March 1911; Official Army List; Lord Wolseley, Story of a Soldier's Life, 1903, i. 231; R. H. Vetch, Life, Letters, and Diaries of Lieut.-general Sir Gerald Graham, 1905; Sir Charles Watson, Life of Major-general Sir Charles Wilson, 1909; H. E. Colvile, History of the Sudan Campaign, 2 parts, 1889; Ross of Bladensburg, History of the Coldstream Guards, 1896.]