Henry Charles Stephens
| Henry Stephens | |
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Stephens in 1895
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| Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Hornsey |
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In office 1887–1900 |
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| Preceded by | James McGarel-Hogg |
| Succeeded by | Charles Barrington Balfour |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Henry Charles Stephens 2 February 1841 Lambeth, London, England |
| Died | July 1918 |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Father | Henry Stephens |
| Nickname(s) | Inky |
Henry Charles "Inky" Stephens (2 February 1841 – July 1918) was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1887 to 1900 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hornsey division of Middlesex.
Stephens was born at 71 York Road, Lambeth, London on 2 February 1841, the son of Dr Henry Stephens and his second wife Anne, of Redbourn, Hertfordshire. Dr Henry Stephens (1796–1864) was the inventor in 1832 of an indelible "blue-black writing fluid" which was to become famous as Stephens' Ink and to form the foundation of a successful worldwide company for over 150 years.
The family moved to Finchley, north London, in 1844 where Dr Stephens bought and renovated a large residence named Grove House, in Ballards Lane. The outbuildings of Grove House were used by the inventor as a laboratory for research and manufacture of ink and wood stains; thus Henry Charles grew up among his father's work and learnt the business from a young age.
After an early education in France, the boy returned to England to attend University College School. He left school at the age of 16 but continued with chemistry and science studies (at the School of Mines, Kensington - now part of Imperial College London) while also involved in the family business. At the age of 23, in 1864, he took over the management of the company upon the sudden death of his father, who collapsed and died at Farringdon station.
The year before (1863), he had married Margaret Agnes Mackereth, the daughter of an old medical-student friend of his father. They lived for a while in Grove House with Stephens' widowed mother, then in 1874 purchased nearby Avenue House in East End Road and ten acres of adjacent land, on a site formerly known as Temple Croft Field.
Stephens enlarged and improved the house and in the 1870s sought advice about having the grounds developed, and employed landscape gardener Robert Marnock (1800–1889). Marnock's plans included lawns, ponds, mounds, paths and steps, and a walled kitchen garden and park-keeper's dwelling known as The Bothy (1882). Stephens added a water tower with adjacent building, a lodge, coach house and stable block and arranged for a number of rare trees to be planted throughout the grounds.
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