James Kenneth Stephen
February 25, 1859 – February 03, 1892
Countries:
United Kingdom
Place of Birth:
London, England
Place of Death:
Northampton, England
Categories:
Poetry
James Kenneth Stephen was an English poet, and tutor to Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
Early life
Stephen was the second son of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, barrister-at-law, and his wife Mary Richenda Cunningham. James Kenneth Stephen was known as 'Jem' among his family and close friends; he was first-cousin to Virginia Woolf (née Stephen).
He was a King's Scholar at Eton, where he proved to be a highly competent player of the Eton Wall Game; and then went up to King's College, Cambridge, again as a King's Scholar. In the Michaelmas term of 1880, he was President of the Cambridge Union Society. In 1883 he became tutor to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, and was made a Fellow of King's College in 1885. He was a renowned intellectual; and it was said that he spoke in a pedantic, but highly articulate and entertaining manner.
Poetry
Stephen became a published poet, his work being identified by the initials J. K. S. He wrote collections of poems in Lapsus Calami and Quo Musa Tendis both published in 1891.
Death
Stephen suffered a serious head injury in an accident in the winter of 1886/1887 which may have brought on the bi-polar disorder from which he suffered. His cousin Virginia Woolf suffered from the same disorder in later years. Stephen was eventually committed to St Andrew's Hospital, a mental asylum in Northampton.
In January 1892 the former Royal tutor heard that his erstwhile pupil, the 28-year-old Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence had died of pneumonia at Sandringham, after contracting influenza. On hearing the news, Stephen refused to eat, and died twenty days later, aged 32. His cause of death, according to the death certificate, was mania.
Early life
Stephen was the second son of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, barrister-at-law, and his wife Mary Richenda Cunningham. James Kenneth Stephen was known as 'Jem' among his family and close friends; he was first-cousin to Virginia Woolf (née Stephen).
He was a King's Scholar at Eton, where he proved to be a highly competent player of the Eton Wall Game; and then went up to King's College, Cambridge, again as a King's Scholar. In the Michaelmas term of 1880, he was President of the Cambridge Union Society. In 1883 he became tutor to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, and was made a Fellow of King's College in 1885. He was a renowned intellectual; and it was said that he spoke in a pedantic, but highly articulate and entertaining manner.
Poetry
Stephen became a published poet, his work being identified by the initials J. K. S. He wrote collections of poems in Lapsus Calami and Quo Musa Tendis both published in 1891.
Death
Stephen suffered a serious head injury in an accident in the winter of 1886/1887 which may have brought on the bi-polar disorder from which he suffered. His cousin Virginia Woolf suffered from the same disorder in later years. Stephen was eventually committed to St Andrew's Hospital, a mental asylum in Northampton.
In January 1892 the former Royal tutor heard that his erstwhile pupil, the 28-year-old Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence had died of pneumonia at Sandringham, after contracting influenza. On hearing the news, Stephen refused to eat, and died twenty days later, aged 32. His cause of death, according to the death certificate, was mania.