Thoby Stephen

Julian Thoby Stephen (1880 – 20 November 1906), known as the Goth, was the brother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, both prominent members of the Bloomsbury Group, and of Adrian Stephen.

Thoby Stephen was the eldest son of Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep. As the result of his mother's previous marriage he was also a half-brother of George and Gerald Duckworth. He was educated at Clifton College, after failing to gain a place at Eton. However, this did not hold him back, since he won an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, from Clifton. He was a friend of Lytton Strachey, who was enchanted by his masculinity and introduced him to the "Reading Club". He was described as "over six feet tall and of somewhat ponderous build".

Stephen is credited with starting the Bloomsbury Group's Thursday evening gatherings.

He was expected to distinguish himself, but he contracted typhoid at the age of 26 while on holiday in Greece, and died shortly after he was brought back to England.

Vanessa Bell's eldest son, the poet Julian Bell, was named after him.

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