The Rt Rev Percival William Stephenson was the 6th Anglican bishop 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.
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]
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