Percival Stephenson

The Rt Rev Percival William Stephenson was the 6th Anglicanbishop of Nelson^[1] whose episcopate spanned a 14-year period in the mid-20th century.

The son of Arthur Henry Stephenson (1867-1955),^[2] and Annie Amelia Vevers Stephenson (1865-1903), née Brailey,^[3] Percival William Stephenson was born at Malmsbury, Victoria on 5 May 1888.

He married Grace Ermyntrude Lavender (1885-1974) on 9 October 1913.^[4][5] They three children, Millicent Lavender Stephenson (1914-),^[6] Arthur Lavender Stephenson (1917-2001),^[7] and Noel Lavender Stephenson (1920-). Percival Stephenson died in 1962.

He was educated at Caulfield Grammar School, Melbourne,^[8] where he was an outstanding footballer in the school's First XVIII,^[9] the University of Melbourne, the Australian College of Theology, and the University of London.

• 1912: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) — University of Melbourne.
• 1913: Licentiate of Theology (L.Th.) — Australian College of Theology.
• 1915: Bachelor of Arts (M.A.) — University of Melbourne.
• 1917: Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) — University of London.

He was ordained in 1914.^[10]

He moved to India to teach at CMS Edwards College in Peshawar, where he was initially a teacher and then principal (1921–1924). From 1924 to 1928 he was professor of exegetical theology at St John's College, Winnipeg.^[11]

On his return to Australia he became federal secretary of the Church Missionary Society of Australia and Tasmania and headmaster of Trinity Grammar School, Sydney (1935–37)^[12] and then commonwealth secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society until his elevation to the episcopate in 1940.

He died on 29 May 1962.^[13]

• List of Caulfield Grammar School people

• Cole, Keith, Sincerity My Guide: A Biography of the Right Reverend PW Stephenson (1888-1962) , Church Missionary Historical Publications Trust, (Melbourne), 1970.
• Webber, Horace (1981). Los años pueden pasar... Caulfield Grammar School, 1881–1981 . Comité del Centenario, Caulfield Grammar School, (East St Kilda). ISBN 0-9594242-0-2.
• Wilkinson, Ian R. (1997). The Fields At Play – 115 years of sport at Caulfield Grammar School 1881–1996 . Playright Publishing. ISBN 0-949853-60-7.