Robert Stephens (1665–1732), who was appointed

historiographer royal Historiographer Royal is the title of an appointment as official chronicler or historian of a court or monarch. It was initially particularly associated with the French monarchy, where the post existed from at least 1550, but in the later 16th and 1 ...

in 1727, was a public servant and historian. He was the first to publish much of

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

's private correspondence.

Life

Born in 1665, Robert Stephens was the fourth son of Richard Stephens of the elder house of that name at Eastington in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, by his wife Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Cholmeley, bart. His first education was at Wotton school, whence he removed to

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, matriculating on 19 May 1681, but he left the university without taking a degree. He was called to the bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1689, and was one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries in 1717. Being a relative of

Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, KG PC FRS (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724) was an English statesman and peer of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory ...

, whose mother, Abigail, was daughter of Nathaniel Stephens of Eastington, he was preferred by him to be chief solicitor of the customs, in which employment he continued till 1726, when he was appointed to succeed

Thomas Madox Thomas Madox (1666 – 13 January 1727) was a legal antiquary and historian, known for his publication and discussion of medieval records and charters; and in particular for his ''History of the Exchequer'', tracing the administration and record ...

in the place of historiographer-royal. He died at Grovesend, near

Thornbury, Gloucestershire Thornbury is a market town and civil parish in the South Gloucestershire unitary authority area of England, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Bristol. It had a population of 12,063 at the 2011 Census. The population has risen to 14,496 in the 20 ...

, on 9 Nov. 1732, and was buried at Eastington, where a monument with an English inscription was erected to his memory by his widow (and first cousin), Mary Stephens, daughter of Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 4th Baronet.

Work

Stephens began about 1690 to transcribe and collect unpublished "letters and memoirs" of

, chiefly in collections. The first result of his labours was his ''Letters of Sir Francis Bacon'' published in London in 1702. After this volume had appeared Harley "was pleased to put into my hands some neglected manuscripts and loose papers, to see whether any of the Lord Bacon's compositions lay concealed there that were fit to be published." His investigations induced Stephens to prepare another volume, ''Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon''.''Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon'', London, 1734, 4to.
Reissued in 1736 as: ''Letters, Memoirs, Parliamentary Affairs, Slate Papers, &c., with some Curious Pieces in Law and Philosophy. Published from the Originals. . . . With an Account of the Life of Lord Bacon.'' The first 231 pages of this volume (it consists of 516), with a preface and introductory memoir, were sent to press by Stephens. The rest were selected from his papers by his friend John Locker, and the whole volume was edited by Stephens's widow. Among Stephens's collection in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

(Addit. MS. 4269) is a catalogue of letters and papers connected with Bacon. Many of these documents cannot now be found, and a list of the missing papers is printed in Spedding,

Ellis Ellis is a surname of Welsh and English origin. Retrieved 21 January 2014 An independent French origin of the surname is said to derive from the phrase fleur-de-lis. Surname A * Abe Ellis (Stargate), a fictional character in the TV series ' ...

and

Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

's edition of Bacon's ''Works'', 1874, xiv. 590. It is possible that they are still in existence, and may yet be recovered. All the letters and papers described in Stephens's 'Catalogue' were most probably in the hands of

Archbishop Tenison Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs. Life He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son ...

at Lambeth as late as December 1682.

Notes

References

DNB additional references

* Lowndes's ''Bibliographer's Manual'' (Bohn) i. 96, 97 ; Spedding's ''Bacon'', viii. 16, 119; ix. 2, 3, 16; xi. 3; xii. 349, 356, 372; xiii. and xiv. ''passim'';

Nichols Nichols may refer to: People *Nichols (surname) *Nichol, a surname Places Canada * Nichols Islands, Nunavut United States * Nichols, California, an unincorporated community * Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, California * Nichols, Connecticut * Nich ...

's ''Literary Anecdotes'' ii. 51, 700, iii. 616, v. 173; Ayncough's ''Catalogue of the Manuscripts'' p. 781;

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

's ''Bibliotheca Britannica'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Robert 1665 births 1732 deaths 18th-century English historians 17th-century English historians