Sir Philip Stephens, 1st Baronet

Sir Philip Stephens, 1st Baronet (11 October 1723 – 20 November 1809) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 47 years from 1759 to 1806, when he was the last surviving Member of Parliament to have served under George II.

He was educated at the free school at Harwich,[2] and at an early age obtained an appointment as clerk in the navy victualling office, as his eldest brother, Tyringham Stephens, had previously done.

By a special recommendation on 15 October 1806 Stephens, at the age of eighty-one, was granted a pension of £1,600,[5] which he enjoyed till his death on 20 November 1809.

[1] Sir Philip's (illegitimate) only daughter, Caroline Elizabeth, married Thomas Jones, 6th Viscount Ranelagh in 1804, but died in childbirth the next year without surviving issue;[6] she was buried in the same vault in Fulham church.

[8] He sent out a cavalcade of navigators to explore the Pacific Ocean, including John Byron, James Cook, William Bligh and George Vancouver.