Adrian Consett Stephen, frontispiece, Four Plays, 1918

Major Adrian Consett Stephen MC (1894 – 14 March 1918) was an Australian artillery officer and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

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 The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

, graduating BA in 1913 and LL.B in 1915. He enlisted in 1916 and fought in France with the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of ...

. He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

in May 1917, awarded the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

in June 1917 for action on The Somme, then the

in October 1917 for his conduct at the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

Works

* 1908 ''Echoes'' * 1918 ''Four plays'' * 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" play ''Futurity'' was presented at the

Institute of Arts and Letters An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

clubroom by members of the Institute, led by Beresford Fowler.

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".

References

1894 births 1918 deaths British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Australian male poets 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian male dramatists and playwrights Australian recipients of the Military Cross Royal Field Artillery officers 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian poets British military personnel killed in World War I {{playwright-stub