Melford Stevenson - Early Life

Early Life

Stevenson was born in Newquay, Cornwall, on 17 October 1902, the eldest child and only son of the Reverend John George Stevenson and his wife Olive, sister of Henry Wickham Steed, journalist and editor of The Times from 1919 until 1922. Reverend Stevenson, a Congregational minister, died when his son was fourteen years old, plunging the family into economic distress. An uncle who was a solicitor funded Stevenson's ongoing education at Dulwich College in London, intending that the young Stevenson would join the family firm once his schooling was complete. There was no money available to allow him to attend university, so Stevenson studied for an external London University LLB degree after becoming an articled clerk in his uncle's legal practice. Stevenson was determined to become a barrister, and joined the Inner Temple, of which he became the treasurer in 1972.