# Reginald Stephens > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Reginald_Stephens > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Reginald_Stephens.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Stephens > Source revision: 1353491948 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) [General](/source/General_(United_Kingdom)) **Sir Reginald Byng Stephens**, (10 October 1869 – 6 April 1955) was a [British Army](/source/British_Army) [general](/source/General_officer) of the [First World War](/source/First_World_War) and later [Commandant](/source/List_of_Governors_and_Commandants_of_Sandhurst) of the [Royal Military College, Sandhurst](/source/Royal_Military_College,_Sandhurst), from 1919 to 1923, [Major-General](/source/Major_General_(United_Kingdom)) commanding the [4th Division](/source/4th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)), 1923 to 1926, and Director-General of the [Territorial Army](/source/Territorial_Army_(United_Kingdom)), 1927 to 1931. ## Early life The son of Captain Frederick Stephens, late the [2nd Regiment of Life Guards](/source/2nd_Regiment_of_Life_Guards), of Bentworth Lodge, [Alton, Hampshire](/source/Alton,_Hampshire), by his marriage on 13 January 1869 to Cecilia Mary, daughter of [Captain](/source/Captain_(Royal_Navy)) H. Byng, of [Quendon Hall](/source/Quendon_Hall), [Essex](/source/Essex), Stephens was educated at [Winchester College](/source/Winchester_College).[2] His sister, Mabel, was born and died in 1870, and he also had five younger brothers, Berkeley, Lionel, Gerald Edmund, Evelyn Edward, and Frederick Geoffrey, and a second sister, Cicely Mary.[3] ## Military career Stephens trained at the [Royal Military College, Sandhurst](/source/Royal_Military_College,_Sandhurst), from where he was [commissioned](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) into the [Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)](/source/Rifle_Brigade_(The_Prince_Consort's_Own)) as a [second lieutenant](/source/Second_lieutenant) on 9 April 1890.[4] He was promoted [lieutenant](/source/Lieutenant_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)) on 13 February 1892 and [captain](/source/Captain_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)) on 28 July 1897,[5] later antedated to 26 July.[6] He served in [Matabeleland](/source/Matabeleland) in the [Second Matabele War](/source/Second_Matabele_War) from 1896 to 1897[7] and in the [Nile Expedition](/source/Battle_of_Omdurman) of 1898. From late 1899 he served in South Africa in the [Second Boer War](/source/Second_Boer_War) of 1899 to 1902, during which he was severely wounded, was three times [mentioned in dispatches](/source/Mentioned_in_dispatches) (including on 25 April 1902 "for his conduct of a successful attack on a Boer laager of 25 January 1901, and for general good service"),[8] promoted [brevet](/source/Brevet_(military)) [major](/source/Major_(United_Kingdom)) on 29 November 1900, and received the [Queen's South Africa Medal](/source/Queen's_South_Africa_Medal) with three clasps and the [King's Medal](/source/King's_South_Africa_Medal) with two clasps.[2] Following the end of the war, he left [Port Natal](/source/Port_Natal) on the SS *Malta* in late September 1902, together with other officers and men of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, who were transferred to Egypt.[9] Stephens, who in December 1905 had been promoted to major,[10] was in January 1907 made commander of a company of gentlemen cadets, in succession to Major [Louis Bols](/source/Louis_Bols).[11] He served in the [First World War](/source/World_War_I) of 1914 to 1918, when he was three more times mentioned in dispatches. He began the war, having been promoted to [lieutenant colonel](/source/Lieutenant_colonel_(United_Kingdom)) in March 1914,[12] as [commanding officer](/source/Commanding_officer) (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade (1914–15), was promoted brevet colonel, appointed a Companion of the [Order of St Michael and St George](/source/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) in June 1916[13] and of the [Order of the Bath](/source/Order_of_the_Bath)[14] and promoted temporary [brigadier general](/source/Brigadier_(United_Kingdom)) in May 1915[15] and then temporary [major general](/source/Major_general_(United_Kingdom)) in April 1916,[2][16] which in January 1917 was made substantive.[17] On 1 April 1916 he succeeded [Charles Kavanagh](/source/Charles_Kavanagh) as [general officer commanding](/source/General_officer_commanding) (GOC ) of the [5th Division](/source/5th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)).[18] In December 1917, he led the 5th Division to Italy as part of the British participation in the [Italian campaign](/source/Italian_front_(World_War_I)).[19] The stay only lasted until March 1918 when Stephens and his division returned to the [Western Front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I)) to try and stem the [German spring offensive](/source/German_spring_offensive). Stephens was then commander of [X Corps](/source/X_Corps_(United_Kingdom)) from July 1918 to the end of the war. He continued as GOC X Corps until 1919, when he was appointed a [Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath](/source/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath),[20] then was [commandant](/source/List_of_governors_and_commandants_of_Sandhurst) of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from July 1919, taking over from Major General [Lionel Stopford](/source/Lionel_Stopford),[21][22] to 1923; GOC the [4th Division](/source/4th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)), 1923[23] to 1926; and director general of the [Territorial Army](/source/Army_Reserve_(United_Kingdom)), 1927 to 1931. He was promoted to [lieutenant general](/source/Lieutenant_general_(United_Kingdom)) in January 1926[24] and, after succeeding Lieutenant General [Sir Henry F. M. Wilson](/source/Henry_Fuller_Maitland_Wilson) as [colonel commandant](/source/Colonel_commandant) of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, in February 1929,[25] he became a [general](/source/General_(United_Kingdom)) in August 1930,[26] before retiring from the service in 1931. He settled in [Gloucestershire](/source/Gloucestershire), where he was appointed a [justice of the peace](/source/Justice_of_the_peace) and a [deputy lieutenant](/source/Deputy_lieutenant) for the county.[2] ## Marriage On 10 August 1905, Stephens married Eleanore Dorothea, the younger daughter of Edmund William Cripps, of Ampney Park, [Cirencester](/source/Cirencester), and they had one son and two daughters.[2][27] Their son, [Frederick Stephens](/source/Frederick_Stephens_(British_Army_officer)), , was born on 19 June 1906. He followed his father into the Rifle Brigade, during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) commanded its 1st Battalion in the [Western Desert](/source/Western_Desert_Campaign) and [Tunisia](/source/Tunisia), and retired as a [brigadier](/source/Brigadier) in 1959, when he was appointed a [Commander of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire).[28] Their daughter, [Air Commandant](/source/Air_Commandant) [Dame Anne Stephens](/source/Anne_Stephens_(WRAF_officer)) (4 November 1912 – 26 July 2000), was Director of the [Women's Royal Air Force](/source/Women's_Royal_Air_Force) from 1960 until her retirement in 1963.[29] ## Honours - [Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George](/source/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George), 1916[2] - [Croix de Guerre](/source/Croix_de_Guerre), Belgium[3] - [Croix de guerre](/source/Croix_de_Guerre_1914%E2%80%931918_(France)) and [Legion of Honour](/source/Legion_of_Honour), France, 1919[3][30] - [Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus](/source/Order_of_Saints_Maurice_and_Lazarus), Italy[3] - [Companion of the Order of the Bath](/source/Order_of_the_Bath), 1918[2] - [Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath](/source/Order_of_the_Bath), 1919[2] ## Arms - *[Or](/source/Or_(heraldry)), on a [chevron](/source/Chevron_(insignia)) [engrailed](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/engrailed) [azure](/source/Azure_(heraldry)) between two demi-[lions](/source/Lion) in [chief](/source/Chief_(heraldry)) and a [griffin](/source/Griffin) [segreant](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/segreant) in base [gules](/source/Gules), three [cross-crosslets](/source/Cross-Crosslet) of the field*.[7] ## References 1. Walford, Edward (January 1860). ["The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland"](https://books.google.com/books?id=TuHIDwAAQBAJ&dq=gen+Reginald+byng+Stephens+1869&pg=PA1263) 1. 'Stephens, General Sir Reginald Byng', in *[Who Was Who, 1951–1960](/source/Who's_Who_(UK))* (London: A. & C. Black, 1984 reprint, ISBN 0-7136-2598-8) 1. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, *Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour* (Hurst & Blackett, 1929) p. 1837. 1. No. 26040. 8 April 1890. p. 2100. 1. No. 26891. 14 September 1897. p. 5107. 1. No. 26919. 14 December 1897. p. 7480. 1. 'Stephens of Church House' in [AN ARMORIAL OF ZIMBABWE AND RHODESIA](http://www.heraldic-arts.com/Downloads/ArmorialZimRhodesia.pdf) at heraldic-arts.com, accessed 31 May 2011. 1. No. 27428. 25 April 1902. p. 2768. 1. "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning Home". No. 36887. 1 October 1902. p. 8. 1. No. 27860. 5 December 1905. p. 8738. 1. No. 27992. 5 February 1907. p. 828. 1. No. 28815. 24 March 1914. p. 2540. 1. No. 29608. 2 June 1916. p. 5558. 1. No. 13186. 2 January 1918. p. 8. 1. No. 29199. 18 June 1915. p. 5964. 1. No. 29566. 2 May 1916. p. 4435. 1. No. 29886. 29 December 1916. p. 15. 1. Arthur Herbert Hussey, D. S. Inman, *The Fifth Division in the Great War* (London: Nisbet & Co., 1921), p. 103. 1. George H. Cassar, *The Forgotten Front: the British campaign in Italy, 1917–1918*, p. 104. 1. No. 31092. 31 December 1918. p. 1. 1. No. 31479. 29 July 1919. p. 9666. 1. No. 31591. 7 October 1919. p. 12516. 1. No. 32878. 9 November 1923. p. 7659. 1. No. 33120. 1 January 1926. p. 45. 1. No. 33468. 19 February 1929. p. 1194. 1. No. 33639. 29 August 1930. p. 5358. 1. Crisp, Frederick Arthur (ed.) (1904). [*Visitation of England and Wales*](https://archive.org/details/visitationofengl12howa/page/n262/mode/1up). Vol. 12. London: Privately printed. p. xix. 1. 'Stephens, Frederick' in *[British Army Officers 1939–1945](http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_S02.html)* at unithistories.com, accessed 31 May 2011. 1. ["Dame Anne Stephens: in full command of the WRAF (obituary)"](http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=lancs&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF501388923&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0). *The Times*. 7 August 2000. Retrieved 30 November 2016. 1. *[London Gazette](/source/London_Gazette)*, 21 August 1919 (Supplement), [p. 10606](http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31514/supplements/10606/page.pdf) |- |- |- |- --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Reginald Stephens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Stephens) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Stephens?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.