Early Life
He was born at Lambeth on 3 Jan. 1789, the third son of James Stephen. An attack of smallpox during his infancy caused a permanent weakness of eyesight. He was under various schoolmasters, including John Prior Estlin and the Rev. Henry Jowett of Little Dunham, Norfolk. In 1806 he entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he learnt as little as if he had passed the time "at the Clarendon Hotel in Bond Street." He took the LL.B. degree in 1812, having been called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 11 Nov. 1811. His father, who was just leaving the bar, transferred some practice to his son, who also began to make a digest of colonial laws. Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, who was in sympathy with the "Clapham Sect," allowed him to inspect official records for the digest, and in 1813 appointed him counsel to the Colonial Office. His duty was to report upon all acts of the colonial legislatures. The work increased, but he was also allowed to practise privately, and in a few years was making £3,000 a year, and in a fair way to the honours of the profession.
Read more about this topic: James Stephen (civil Servant)
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