Oxford University, 1924-1927, Bachelor of Arts. Spoken languages: English, French, Spanish.
He died on 20 February 1980, and she deposited his papers in the Churchill Archives, University of Cambridge in 1984. In 1928 Stevens entered the United Kingdom Consular Service, serving in Buenos Aires, New York, Antwerp, Denver, and the Foreign Office in London. In 1951 he was appointed British Ambassador to Sweden, then in 1954, British Ambassador to Persia.
He wrote two books on Persia, The Land of the Great Sophy (1962) and First View of Persia (1964), and continued to contribute to academic journals on the same subject in later life.
In 1958 he returned to London as Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, until 1963. In 1963 he took up the position of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds which he held until 1970.
Other positions were: Advisor to First Secretary of State on Central Africa, 1963–1970 Chairman of Yorkshire and Humberside Economic Planning Council, 1965–1970, Panel of Inquiry into Greater London Development Plan member, 1970–1972, Chairman of the Committee on Mineral Planning Control, 1972–1974, United Nations Administrative Tribunal (UNAT) member, 1972–1977.
Travellers Club, London.