Samuel Phillips (or Phillip) Stephens was the son of William Stephens and his wife Grace Bloyne. He made meteorological observations for the Indian Meteorological Department at some time during the late nineteenth century. By 1896 he worked in the office of the registrar of natives, Kimberley. During that year he took over responsibility for a second order meteorological station and an evaporation station from H. D'A. F. Harrison*. His observations were reported to the Cape of Good Hope Meteorological Commission and summarised in its annual reports for 1900 to at least 1908. Stephens's station was not the only one in Kimberley - until 1903 J.R. Sutton* also provided observations to the commission from De Beers' first order meteorological station at Kenilworth, Kimberley.

Stephens was listed in the General directory of South Africa as "registrar of natives", residing at 15 Green Street, Kimberley (1903, 1908), and then as "late registrar of natives" with the same address (1909, 1911). He and his wife Alice, born Salway, had two sons and three daughters.

List of sources:

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Meteorological Commission, 1899-1908.

FamilySearch: Samuel Phillips Stephens. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LBVL-RXV AND https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQX-W37G-P?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:QP7Q-S3GM&action=view&cc=2517051&lang=en&groupId=M9DB-6BZ

General directory of South Africa, 1903, 1908, 1909, 1911.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Stephens, Samuel Phillips / Stephens, Samuel Phillip / Stephens, S.P.

Samuel Phillips Stephens, Captain. Geni. Retrieved on 30 November 2020 from https://www.geni.com/people/Samuel-Phillips-Stephens-Captain/6000000022201053237

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-12-26 12:02:59