Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Aubrey Counsell Stephens was born on 24 February 1892 at Dunedin, the first-born of John Jefferson Counsell Thomas and Mary (née Duke) Stephens. All his siblings had the Counsell name, as did his children. It may have been his father’s original surname. Fred started at Mornington School, Dunedin, transferring to Arthur Street School, Dunedin, for a few weeks in 1901, then returning to Mornington. In 1901 at Mornington, he received the prize for first place in Standard III. In 1904 his prize was for first place in Standard VI and the Writing prize. From there he went on to Otago Boys’ High School, where he was awrded Dux in 1910 and gained a University scholarship in the December 1910 examinations. He was successful in his university Law studies. On 24 February 1914, Mr Aubrey Counsell Stephens was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. In 1916 he graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from Otago University.

Leave of absence was granted in May 1916 to Mr A. C. Stephens, who was lecturing at the university, in order that he might go to the front. The council congratulated him on his decision, and expressed the hope that he would return safely and resume his duties. Aubrey C. Stephens, solicitor, Dunedin, left with the North Otago quota of the Nineteenth Reinforcements on the afternoon of 27 July 1916. September 1916 saw Corporal A. C. Stephens in cam and in November at Trentham he was appointed sergeant. The following February he was given a commission. In March 1917, his name was drawn in the fifth ballot, but “A. C. Stephens enlisted in July last, and is now a lieutenant attached to the 26th Reinforcements.”

In the midst of all this camp business, Aubrey Stephens had married “WAR WEDDING AT TTMARU. A pretty wedding took place on Monday, October 9, [1916], at the residence of Mrs Charles Bowker, ‘The Pines,’ College Road, when her only daughter and youngest daughter of the late Mr Charles Bowker was married by the Rev. T. A. Joughin to Corporal Aubrey Counsell Stephens, of the Twenty-Second Reinforcements, eldest son of Mr and Mrs J. Counsell Stephens, of Dunedin. The bride, who was given away by her uncle, Mr H. S. Bowker, Christchurch, . . . . . . The presents were numerous and costly, including several cheques. — Timaru Herald.” [Otago Witness, 18 October 1916.]

While Aubrey’s address was a Dunedin one, he named his wife as next-of-kin – Mrs Elsie Helen Stephens, care of Mrs Bowker, College Road, Timaru. A daughter was born to Aubrey and Elsie on 30 September 1917 at Timaru. Second-Lieutenant A. C. Stephens embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment of the 33rdt Reinforcements, departing from Wellington for Glasgow, Scotland, on 31 December 1917 per the “Athenic”. In a letter home dated 19 October 1918 in France, a Captain notes that “Aubrey Stephens is in a neighbouring village having a course in signalling.” The troopship “Tainui”, which was expected to arrive in Wellington on 21 September 1919, brought home Second-Lieutenant A. C. Stephens, of Timaru. He was discharged on 21 October 1919, and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

After the war, four sons were born to Aubrey and Elsie. On 2 August 1943 at Dunedin a decree absolute was issued in the divorce proceedings of Aubrey Counsell Stephens and Elsie Aileen Stephens. Aubrey married again in 1943, to Dulcie Miriam Hazelwood, with whom he had two daughters. Aubrey Counsell Stephens died suddenly on 9 August 1967, on arrival at Dunedin Public Hospital, aged 75 years. Afrer a service at St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin, he was cremated and his ashes were interred at Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin, where a services plaque marks the plot. Elsie died in 1961 and Dulcie in 1978. Aubrey’s parents both died in Dunedin, his father in 1934 and his mother in 1953.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [27 September 2022]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [27 September 2022]; School Admission records (Dunedin Branch NZSG) [27 September 2022]; Andersons Bay Cremation & Burial records, & headstone image (Dunedin City Council) [27 September 2022]; Evening Star, 18 December 1901, 16 December 1904, 1 November 1913, 1 July 1916, 14 March 1917, 11 January 1919, Otago Witness, 18 January 1911, Otago Daily Times, 17 December 1910, 25 February 1914, 17 May 1916, 28 July 1916, 3 August 1943, Otago Witness, 18 October 1916, Sun, 29 August 1919, Timaru Herald, 26 January 1924, Press, 10 August 1967 (Papers Past) [09 & 28 September 2022]; SCRoll submission by B Evans, 27 June 2023.

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.