Born in Southampton, Stephens was educated and trained as a surveyor in England. He came to New Zealand in the Whitby as First Assistant Surveyor on the survey staff sent out in the Will Watch and the Whitby to lay out the Nelson Settlement. The surveys of the Riwaka and Motueka districts were directed by him.
Following the Wairau Massacre, in 1843, he succeeded Frederick Tuckett as Chief Surveyor when the latter was appointed Resident Agent for the Company, owing to the death of Captain Arthur Wakefield at Wairau. Earlier in 1843 Stephens had been appointed Resident Magistrate (Justice of the Peace) at Riwaka, where he had settled on the block of land he had selected. In 1854 he was elected to represent the Nelson settlement in Parliament.
Stephens represented the Motueka and Massacre Bay districts on the Nelson Provincial Council from 1853 until his death in 1855.
Like his fellow surveyors, F. Tuckett and J. S. Cotterell, Stephens was a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). He died at Riwaka on 26th January, 1855.
Date of Birth1811Date of Death1855OccupationSurveyorPoliticianPlace of ResidenceRiwaka
