Sir Henry Frederick Stephenson GCVO KCB (7 June 1842 – 16 December 1919) was a Royal Navy officer, courtier, and Arctic explorer.

[1] His eldest brother, Sir Augustus Keppel Stephenson, was a Treasury Solicitor, and the second person to hold the office of Director of Public Prosecutions in England and Wales.

[3] On 18 December 1855 Stephenson joined the Royal Navy, becoming a Naval Cadet in HMS St Jean d'Acre, commanded by his uncle Henry Keppel, and serving in the Black Sea during the Crimean War.

On 30 March 1866 Stephenson was the lieutenant-in-command of HMS Heron, serving in North America and the West Indies, and becoming the commanding officer of a gun-boat on the Canadian lakes during the Fenian raids of 1866.

[9] Promoted to captain on 6 January 1875, from 15 April 1875 he commanded HMS Discovery for the British Arctic Expedition of 1875–6, led by George Strong Nares in HMS Alert,[10] as a result he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) (in the Civil Division) on 9 December 1876.

[28] Stephenson was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in the November 1902 Birthday Honours list,[29] and was invested with the insignia by the King at Buckingham Palace on 18 December 1902.