Adrian Consett Stephen

{{short description|Australian playwright and World War I soldier (1894–1918)}}

File:Adrian Consett Stephen, frontispiece, Four Plays, 1918.jpg

Major Adrian Consett Stephen MC (1894 – 14 March 1918) was an Australian artillery officer{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1478525|title=Adrian Consett Stephen|website=www.awm.gov.au}} and playwright.{{cite web|url=http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/stephen-adrian-consett-1280|title=Obituary – Adrian Consett Stephen – Obituaries Australia|website=oa.anu.edu.au}} He was awarded the Military Cross during World War I.{{cite web|url=http://www.stpauls.edu.au/home/our-rich-history/war-service/world-war-one/pauline-deaths-in-world-war-one/adrian-consett-stephen|title=St Paul's College » Adrian Consett Stephen|website=www.stpauls.edu.au}}

History

Stephen was the second son of solicitor Consett Stephen, of the Sydney firm of Stephen, Jaques, and Stephen.

He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, graduating BA in 1913 and LL.B in 1915. He enlisted in 1916 and fought in France with the Royal Field Artillery. He was mentioned in despatches in May 1917, awarded the Croix de Guerre in June 1917 for action on The Somme, then the Military Cross in October 1917 for his conduct at the Battle of Passchendaele.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15779492 |title=A Sydney Hero |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=25,025 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 March 1918 |access-date=27 September 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Works

1908 Echoes{{cite book|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kelly-emily-caroline-carrie-12720|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=Heather|last=Radi|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|via=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}
1918 Four plays{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9860177|title=Four plays|first=Adrian Consett|last=Stephen|date=21 September 2017|publisher=Sydney : W.C. Penfold & Co|via=Trove}}{{cite web|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Adrian_Consett_Stephen|title=Adrian Consett Stephen – Wikisource, the free online library|website=en.wikisource.org}}
1918 Stories, burlesques and letters from Hermes
1918 An Australian in the R.F.A. (letters and diary)

Productions

On 7 December 1922 his "hopelessly pessimistic"{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22371516 |title=Adrian Stephen, M.C. |newspaper=The Queenslander |issue=2746 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=19 April 1919 |access-date=27 September 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} play Futurity was presented at the Institute of Arts and Letters clubroom by members of the Institute, led by Beresford Fowler.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205063453 |title=Problem Play By Australian Author |newspaper=The Age |issue=21,122 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 December 1922 |access-date=27 September 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Commemoration

In 1930 Stephen's father presented to the Community Playhouse the "Adrian Consett Stephen Cup" to be awarded to the "Australian one-act play of greatest literary merit".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16694652 |title=Adrian Consett Stephen Cup |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=28,816 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 May 1930 |accessdate=27 September 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}

==References==

Category:1894 births

Category:1918 deaths

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

Category:20th-century Australian non-fiction writers

Category:Australian male poets

Category:20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights

Category:Australian male dramatists and playwrights

Category:Australian recipients of the Military Cross

Category:Royal Field Artillery officers

Category:20th-century Australian male writers

Category:20th-century Australian poets

Category:British military personnel killed in World War I

Category:People educated at Sydney Grammar School