Born in 1951 in Edgbaston to parents from Shropshire farming families, Stephen was educated at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
He graduated from the University of Liverpool with an honours degree in Law, entering Articles of Clerkship with a Shrewsbury firm of Solicitors and being admitted as a Solicitor in 1975. After 20 years in practice, Stephen was appointed as a District Judge in the Civil and Family Courts in 1995, retiring in 2016.
Initiated into Pengwerne Lodge No 3229 in 1985 and its WM in 1997, he is a Founder Member of The Iron Bridge Lodge No 9897, a member of Shropshire Installed Masters’ Lodge No 6262 and of The Wrekin Lodge No 2883 in London. Appointed Provincial Grand Sword Bearer in 2004, followed by appointment to the ranks of Provincial Grand Registrar between 2008 and 2011, and Provincial Senior Grand Warden in 2012, he was invested as the Shropshire’s first Assistant Provincial Grand Master in 2023. He was appointed PAGDC in Grand Lodge in 2019 and promoted to Past Junior Grand Deacon in 2024.
In the Royal Arch, Stephen is a member and Past MEZ of Pengwerne Chapter No 3229 and a member of Shropshire Installed First Principals Chapter No 6262. After holding the positions of Provincial Grand Sword Bearer, Provincial Grand Registrar and Provincial Grand Scribe Nehemiah in Provincial Grand Chapter he was appointed Third Provincial Grand Principal in 2018 and Provincial Second Grand Principal in 2020. He was appointed and invested as Past Grand Standard Bearer in Supreme Grand Chapter in 2023.
Stephen has a daughter, son-in-law and young family in the USA and is therefore most grateful to have a British Airways pilot as a son, which makes travel a little easier. A past Chairman and currently a Vice President of the Shropshire Horticultural Society, organisers of the Shrewsbury Flower Show, when time and weather permit he plays what he fondly considers to be golf, albeit increasingly erratically.