Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/245

 apprenticed to his father, a surgeon, at the age of sixteen. Three years later he was sent to the united hospitals (St. Thomas's and Guy's) in the Borough, where he stayed until 1800. It is probable that his medical studies were much interrupted by ill-health, for he was not admitted a member of the College of Surgeons of England until 20 Nov. 1807. On account of his ill-health he determined to devote himself to the ophthalmic side of surgery. After studying for some time under [q. v.], the oculist, he settled in or near Nottingham. The death of Saunders in 1810 led Stevenson to return to London, where he commenced to practise.

In 1813 he was oculist and aurist to the Princess of Wales, and to Leopold, duke of Saxe-Coburg; he was then living in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. He delivered the anniversary oration at the Medical Society of London in March 1817, taking as his subject the treatment of gutta serena. He founded in 1830, at 13 Little Portland Street, Cavendish Square, ‘The Royal Infirmary for Cataract,’ and he was soon afterwards appointed oculist and aurist to William IV. In 1841 he became oculist and aurist to Leopold I, king of the Belgians, and in 1844 he was living in Conduit Street and at Norwood Park, Middlesex. All trace of him is lost after this year.

Stevenson undertook to operate upon cases of cataract at an earlier period than was thought advisable by other surgeons, and his infirmary was founded with the express design of carrying out his mode of treatment.

His works are:
 * 1) ‘On the Morbid Sensibility of the Eye, commonly called Weakness of Sight,’ London, 1810, 8vo; reprinted at Hartford, America, 1815; 3rd edit., London, 1819; 4th edit. 1841.
 * 2) ‘A Practical Treatise on Cataract,’ London 1813, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1814; a new edit. 1824, and again in 1834; 5th edit. 1839, 12mo; 7th edit. 1843.
 * 3) ‘On the Nature of … Gutta Serena,’ London, 1821, 8vo; an expansion of his anniversary address delivered at the Medical Society in 1817.
 * 4) ‘Deafness, its Causes, Prevention, and Cure,’ London 1828, 8vo; 7th edit. 1842.
 * 5) ‘On Throat Deafness,’ London, 12mo; 4th edit. 1843.



STEVENSON, JOHN ANDREW (1760?–1833), musical composer, born at Dublin about 1760, was the son of John Stevenson, a native of Glasgow, who became a violinist in the state band in Dublin. He was a chorister in Christ Church, Dublin, from 1771 to 1775, receiving his first instruction from Dr. Woodward, and he was in St. Patrick's Cathedral choir from 1775 to 1780. He became a vicar-choral in St. Patrick's in 1783, and in Christ Church in 1800. He was created Mus. Doc. of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1791, and in 1803 was knighted by the lord lieutenant (Lord Hardwicke). He married a daughter of Mr. Morton of the custom-house, Dublin, and widow of Mr. Singleton, and died on 14 Sept. 1833 at Headfort House, Kells, co. Meath, the seat of Thomas Taylour, second marquis of Headfort, whose second wife was Olivia (d. 1834), Stevenson's second daughter. A memorial monument was placed in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and was restored in December 1896.

Stevenson is best known by his symphonies and accompaniments to the collection of Irish melodies, the words for which were written by [q. v.] He wrote a good deal for the Irish stage, including the operas of ‘The Contract’ (1783), ‘Love in a Blaze’ (1800), ‘The Patriot,’ and ‘The Burning of Moscow;’ and furnished new music for O'Keeffe's farces, ‘The Son-in-law’ and ‘The Agreeable Surprise.’ A collection of services and anthems, with his portrait, was published in 1825 (London, 2 vols. 4to); and numerous glees, duets, songs, &c., were issued at various times. He also published an oratorio, ‘The Thanksgiving,’ a series of ‘Sacred Songs, Duets, and Trios, the Words by T. Moore’ (London, n.d.), and ‘A Selection of Popular National Airs, with Symphonies and Accompaniments,’ 2 vols., London, 1818.



STEVENSON, JOHN HALL-, originally JOHN HALL (1718–1785), country gentleman and poetaster, born in 1718, was son of Joseph Hall of Durham, by his wife Catherine, sister and heiress of Lawson Trotter of Skelton Castle in Cleveland, Yorkshire. On 16 June 1735 he was admitted a fellow-commoner of Jesus College, Cambridge. At the time Laurence Sterne, an exhibitioner of the college and Hall-Stevenson's senior by five years, was nearing the end of his second year at the university. With Sterne Hall-Stevenson formed at once a close intimacy, which lasted till death separated them. They called each other cousin, but the blood-relationship was very distant, if not imagi-