View source for Benjamin C. Stephenson

'''Sir Benjamin Charles Stephenson''', [[Royal Guelphic Order|GCH]] (1766 – 10 June 1839)<ref name=Obit>"Obituary, Major-Gen. Sir B. C. Stephenson", ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', Volume 12, July – December 1839, p. 317.</ref> was a British [[courtier]] and government official in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After military service, he served kings [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]], [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]], and [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]. He was, from 1813 to 1832, Surveyor-General (head of the [[Office of Works]]).
==Career==
Stephenson joined the army, serving in the [[9th Queen's Royal Lancers|9th Regiment of Light Dragoons]] and the [[3rd Dragoon Guards]]. He saw action at the [[Battle of Famars]] and the [[Siege of Valenciennes (1793)|Siege of Valenciennes]] in 1793, and in later skirmishes was seriously wounded.<ref name=Obit />
In 1803, he was appointed Deputy Judge Advocate of the South West District, and later served on a commission on military expenditure. In 1812 he was appointed Master of the King's Household at Windsor, and in 1823 was appointed to superintend the finances of [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany]].<ref name=Obit />
Stephenson succeeded Sir [[James Wyatt]] as Surveyor-General of the Board of Works in 1813. As Surveyor-General, in 1829, he commissioned Sir [[John Soane]] to design the New State Paper Office in Duke Street, east of London's St James's Park, as a purpose-built repository for national records in England (superseded in 1856 by Sir [[James Pennethorne]]'s [[Public Record Office]] in [[Chancery Lane]], and demolished in 1862).<ref name="Archivaria">{{cite web|last1=Palmer|first1=Susan|title=Sir John Soane and the Design of the New State Paper Office, 1829–1834|url=http://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/12514/13642|website=Archivaria|accessdate=8 June 2017}}</ref> When the Board merged with the Department of Woods and Forests in 1832, Stephenson was appointed a [[Commissioners of Woods and Forests|Commissioner]] in that department.
Promoted a Knight Commander of the [[Royal Guelphic Order|Guelphic Order of Hanover]] in 1830 and Knight Grand Cross in 1834, he died at his London home in Bolton Row, [[Piccadilly]] on 10 June 1839 and was buried in the family vault in [[Kensington]] churchyard on 15 June.<ref name=Obit />
==Family==
He married Marie Rivers in 1805,<ref name=Obit /> and they had six daughters and two sons: William Henry (18 November 1811-1 March 1898) who became chairman of the Board of the [[Inland Revenue]] (1862-1877) and was private secretary to British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] Sir [[Robert Peel]] (1841-1846), and [[Frederick Stephenson (British Army officer)|Frederick Charles Arthur]] (1821-1911) who became a prominent British Army officer.<ref name="Foster">{{cite book|last1=Foster|first1=Joseph|title=Volume 2 of The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of the British Empire for 1881|publisher=Nichols & Son}}</ref><ref>"Obituary, Sir William Henry Stephenson", ''The Times'', 2 March 1898, p. 8</ref> William Henry's son, also named [[B. C. Stephenson|Benjamin Charles Stephenson]] was a prominent English dramatist, lyricist and librettist.<ref>"Obituary, Mr. B. C. Stephenson", ''The Times'', 24 January 1906, p. 5</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:1766 births]]
[[Category:1839 deaths]]
[[Category:English courtiers]]