Thomas Alan Stephenson
Thomas Alan Stephenson FRS (1898–1961) was a British naturalist and marine biologist who specialized in sea anemones. He preferred to go by his middle name, Alan Stephenson.
He was born on 19 January 1898 in Burnham-on-Sea, England, as the eldest of three children. His father was a Wesleyan minister and amateur botanist, and his family moved often because of his father’s church work. This mobility made his schooling varied, but he met people who would influence him, including Harold Drinkwater, a doctor and plant painter in Wrexham.
In 1915 he began studying at Aberystwyth University, but illness interrupted his studies. Under zoologist H. J. Fleure, Stephenson developed a strong interest in sea anemones and published his first papers at age 20, using material from early Antarctic exploration. He earned an MSc in 1920 and a Doctor of Science in 1923.
Between 1920 and the mid-1920s he did research at Aberystwyth, supported by a grant, and also collaborated with his father on orchid studies. Their work helped define several orchid species, including Orchis purpurella (now Dactylorhiza purpurella).
In 1922 Stephenson became a lecturer in zoology at University College London. He published the first volume of The British Sea Anemones in 1928. That same year he joined Maurice Yonge’s Great Barrier Reef expedition, which delayed work on the second volume.
Later he held academic posts in Britain and at the University of Cape Town. His final position was Professor and Head of the Department of Zoology at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Stephenson married Anne Wood in 1922; they had no children. He died on 3 April 1961 in London, aged 63. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 09:55 (CET).