Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Stephens, William Richard Wood
STEPHENS, WILLIAM RICHARD WOOD (1839–1902), dean of Winchester, born on 5 Oct. 1839 at Haywards Field, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, where his father carried on a wool or cloth business before he became partner in a Reading bank, was younger son of Charles Stephens and Catharine, daughter of Sir Matthew Wood [q.v.] and sister of William Page Wood, baron Hatherley [q. v.]. Being dehcate in boyhood, Stephens was educated at home until he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a second class in moderations and a first in the final classical school, and graduated B.A. in 1862, proceeding M.A. in 1865, B.D. in 1895, and D.D. in 1901. After leaving Oxford he lived at home or travelled on the continent in company with his college friend John Addii^ton Symonds (1840-1893) [q. v.] until 1864, when he was ordained to the curacy of Staines, Middlesex. In 1866 he became curate of Parley, Berkshire, and in 1870, on the recommendation of Walter Farquhar Hook [q. v.], dean of Chichester, the duke of Richmond presented him to the vicarage of Mid Lavant, Sussex; he was lecturer at Chichester Theological College (1872-5), and examining chaplain to the bishop of Chichester 1875-94. In 1875 he was preferred to the prebend of Whitring or Wittering, then an office of emolument and carrying with it the post of theological lecturer in Chichester Cathedral. He was presented to the rectory of Woolbeding, Sussex, in 1876, and was proctor of the clergy in convocation 1880–6. In 1894 he was appointed by the crown to the deanery of Winchester, and was installed on 4 Feb. 1895. In the same year he was elected F.S.A. After an illness of about six weeks he died at the deanery of typhoid fever on 22 Dec. 1902, and was buried in the graveyard of the cathedral. He married, on 31 Aug. 1869, Charlotte Jane, youngest daughter of Dean Hook; she survived him with one son and three daughters.
Stephens was wealthier than most clergy, and spent his money liberally; he restored the church at Mid Lavant and practically rebuilt the chancel at Woolbeding. At Winchester he contributed largely to the repair of the roof of the cathedral, which was carried out while he was dean, mainly through his exertions in raising money, at a cost of 12,600l. Other improvements in the fabric and the character and order of the services were due to his authority or influence; he spared no trouble and no expense in fulfilling his desire to make the cathedral services 'a pattern of devout worship.' The chapter benefited by his capacity for business. He devoted much time to conducting working people and colonial and foreign visitors over the cathedral and instructing them in its history and architecture; he took part in many local endeavours for religious and social reforms, and was active in the cause of temperance. He was a liberal in politics, and although a high churchman, cordially co-operated with nonconformists in social and philanthropic work.
Throughout life he read and wrote much ecclesiastical history and biography. His historical work is scholarly, careful, and attractively presented. He was a sympathetic biographer, and able to depict personality. He published: 1. 'St. Chrysostom: his Life and Times,' 1872, 1880. 2. 'Memorials of the South Saxon See and the Cathedral Church of Chichester,' 1876. 3. 'Christianity and Islam, the Bible and the Koran, Four Lectures,' 1877. 4. Two pamphlets on the 'Burials Question' and 'Cathedral Chapters considered as Diocesan Councils,' 1877. 5. 'The Life and Letters of Walter Farquhar Hook, D.D.,' 2 vols. 1878, a biography of high merit which met with much success (condensed edition, 1880). 6. 'The Relations between Culture and Religion, Three Lectures,' 1881. 7. 'The South Saxon Diocese, Selsey, Chichester,' in 'Diocesan Histories,' 1881. 'Memoir of the Right Hon. William Page Wood, Baron Hatherley,' 2 vols. 1883. 9. 'Hildebrand and his Times,' in Bp. Creighton's 'Epochs of Church History,' 1886. 10. A translation from St. Chrysostom, 'On the Christian Priesthood,' in Schaff's 'Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,' xii. 1889. 11. 'Life and Letters of E. A. Freeman,' 2 vols. 1895, too long a record of the uneventful life of a scholar. 12. Completion of Dean Kitchin's pamphlet on ' The Great Screen in Winchester Cathedral,' 1899. 13. 'Memoir of Richard Durnford, D.D., Bishop of Chichester,' 1899. 14. 'Helps to the Study of the Book of Common Prayer,' 2nd edit. 1901. 15. ' A History of the English Church from the Norman Conquest to the Accession of Edward I,' 1901, the second volume of 'A History of the English Church,' edited by him and W. Hunt, complete in 9 vols., of which he only lived to see four published. 16. 'The Bishops of Winchester,' with the Rev. Canon W. W. Capes, reprinted from the 'Winchester Diocesan Chronicle,' 1907, 4to. He also in 1887, in conjunction with the Rev. Walter Hook, produced a revised edition of Dean Hook's 'Church Dictionary,' and he contributed several articles, including that on St. Anselm, to this Dictionary. A portrait in oils by Mr. Frederic Calderon is in the possession of his widow.
[Private information; personal knowledge; the Guardian, 31 Dec. 1902; Memoir reprinted, with reproduction of a photograph, from the Hampshire Observer, 27 Dec. 1902 and 3 Jan. 1903.]