James Stephen (civil Servant) - Colonial Office Career

Colonial Office Career

On 22 December 1814 he married Jane Catherine, daughter of John Venn, rector of Clapham, one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society. In 1822 Stephen had a severe illness caused by overwork. As he was now a father, he decided in 1825 to accept the offer of the post of permanent counsel to the colonial office and to the board of trade, abandoning his private practice.

In 1834 Stephen was appointed assistant under-secretary of state for the colonies, and in 1836 under-secretary, giving up his position in the board of trade. The duties became onerous. He had a high reputation for his knowledge of constitutional law, and as an administrator. He gained influence with his superiors, and his colleague, Sir Henry Taylor, sais that for many years he "literally ruled the colonial empire." The impression of his influence gained him the nicknames of "King Stephen" and "Mr. Over-secretary Stephen;" and he was made the scapegoat for real and supposed errors of the Colonial Office.

Stephe had accepted his position partly with a hope of influence policy on slavery question. When abolition became inevitable, he was called on to draw up the Slavery Abolition Act passed in 1833. Between the noons of Saturday and Monday he dictated an elaborate bill of sixty-six sections. He also was writing for the Edinburgh Review, and suffered a breakdown.

In later years Stephens was involved in the establishment of government in Canada; and his views are said to have been more liberal than those of the government. Esteemed by his official superiors, he used formality to keep others at a distance. The health of his youngest son induced him in 1840 to take a house at Brighton for his family, to which he could make only weekly visits. From 1842 to 1846 he lived at Windsor, in order to send his sons to Eton. In 1846 he was summoned to Dresden by the illness of his eldest son, who died before his parents could reach him. In 1847 he resigned his opost. He was made a K.C.B. and a privy councillor.