Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Augustus Frederick William Keppel Stephenson, (18 October 1827 in London – 26 September 1904) was a

Treasury Solicitor The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service. The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office go ...

and the second person to hold the office of

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

Early life and family

Stephenson was born in London on 18 October 1827, the eldest child of Henry Frederick Stephenson, M.P., and Lady Mary Keppel. His mother was one of eleven children born to

William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle William Charles Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle, GCH, PC (14 May 1772 – 30 October 1849), briefly styled Viscount Bury between May and October 1772, was a British Whig politician. Background Albemarle was the only child of General Georg ...

. His father, Henry Frederick Stephenson, was the illegitimate son of

Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk (15 March 1746 – 16 December 1815), styled Earl of Surrey from 1777 to 1786, was a British nobleman, peer, and politician. He was the son of Charles Howard, 10th Duke of Norfolk and Catherine Brockho ...

. Henry Frederick Stephenson was a barrister-at-law and served as M.P. for Westbury (1831–49). His younger brother, Admiral Sir Henry Frederick Stephenson, was a Royal Navy officer, courtier and Arctic explorer.

Education

Stephenson was educated privately, and later attended

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, taking his M.A. in 1819. He was called to the Bar as barrister-at-law of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1852.

Career

For two years (1852–1854) he was Marshal and Associate in the Court of the Queen's Bench to the Lord Chief Justice. Stephenson then went to the Norfolk Circuit and was appointed a Revising Barrister and a Recorder of Bedford. He was appointed Assistant Solicitor of the Treasury by Lord Russell in 1865. The

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

, Mr. Lowe, made him interim Registrar of Friendly Societies that same year. In 1876 Stephenson was appointed Solicitor to the Treasury. The following year, the First Lord of the Treasury appointed him to serve as Her Majesty's Procurator General. Stephenson was created a CB on the recommendation of Mr. Gladstone in 1883, and a KCB, in 1886. He was made Director of Public Prosecutions in 1884. In 1889, he was made

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

on the recommendation of Lord Chancellor Halsbury.

Marriage

Stephenson married Eglantine Pleydell-Bouverie, second daughter of Rt. Hon.

Edward Pleydell-Bouverie Edward Pleydell-Bouverie PC, FRS (26 April 1818 – 16 December 1889), styled The Honourable from 1828, was a British Liberal politician. He was a member of Lord Palmerston's first administration as Paymaster-General and Vice-President of the ...

and Elizabeth Anne Balfour, on 5 December 1864. Their children included Guy Stephenson.

Cleveland street scandal

One notable case occurred in 1889 when Stephenson was given the

Cleveland Street scandal The Cleveland Street scandal occurred in 1889, when a homosexual male brothel and Love hotel, house of assignation on Cleveland Street, London, was discovered by police. The government was accused of covering up the scandal to protect the names o ...

to prosecute. It involved various members of the aristocracy (such as Lord Arthur Somerset and the

Earl of Euston Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

), but these people were "allowed" (in the words of the radical journal the ''North London Press'') to escape prosecution, something which attracted Stephenson a lot of criticism from the press.Googlebooks, pages 122,123
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Augustus Keppel 1904 deaths British barristers Directors of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales) Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Lawyers awarded knighthoods 1827 births Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge English King's Counsel Members of Lincoln's Inn 19th-century English lawyers Treasury Solicitors