Background
Born in 1665, Robert Stephens was the fourth son of Richard Stephens of the elder house of that name at Eastington in Gloucestershire, by his wife Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Cholmeley, bart.
Born in 1665, Robert Stephens was the fourth son of Richard Stephens of the elder house of that name at Eastington in Gloucestershire, by his wife Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Cholmeley, bart.
He was the first to publish much of Francis Bacon"s private correspondence. His first education was at Wotton school, whence he removed to Lincoln College, Oxford, matriculating on 19 May 1681, but he left the university without taking a degree. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1689, and was one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries in 1717.
Being a relative of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, whose mother, Abigail, was daughter of Nathaniel Stephens of Eastington, he was preferred by him to be chief solicitor of the customs, in which employment he continued till 1726, when he was appointed to succeed Thomas Madox in the place of historiographer-royal.