Jane Stephens (9 October 1879 - 11 December 1959) was an Irish

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

who was considered a leading authority on

sponges Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

in Ireland with specialised knowledge in other marine life who identified and named over 40 sponges new to science. From 1905 to 1920 she was employed in the Natural History Division of the National Museum of Ireland working primarily on the collections of marine invertebrates, including taking part in the

Clare Island Survey The Clare island Survey was a multidisciplinary ( zoological, botanical, archaeological, and geological) survey of Clare Island an island off the West coast of Ireland. The survey which followed a similar survey of Lambay Island in 1905 and ...

Robert Lloyd Praeger Robert Lloyd Praeger (25 August 1865 – 5 May 1953) was an Irish naturalist, writer and librarian. Biography From a Unitarian background, he was born and raised in Holywood, County Down. He attended the school of the Reverend McAlister a ...

testified to her knowledge of and work with Irish sponges stating that "Most of what we know of this group, whether marine or fresh-water, in Ireland, or off the Irish coasts, is due to her work."

Early life and education

Stephens was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

in 1879, the sixth child of

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

Albert and Jane Stephens. Her elder sister,

Laura Stephens Laura Kathleen Jane Stephens (born 2 June 1999) is a British swimmer. In 2024 she won the gold medal for the 200 metre butterfly at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. Career Stephens competed in the women's 200 metre butterfly at the 20 ...

, was a talented linguist working as a translator in a government department. She attended

Alexandra College Alexandra College ( ir, Coláiste Alexandra) is a fee-charging boarding and day school for girls located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos. History The school was founded in 1866 and takes its ...

excelling in her studies as well as hockey and lawn tennis. She then went on to be the second woman to be awarded a degree (BSc) in the

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the ''University Education (Ireland) Act 1879'' as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on 27 Apri ...

in 1903, receiving second-class honours in geology and biology.

Professional career

Sponge specimen from Natural History Museum Dublin

She was employed in the Natural History Division of the National Museum of Ireland in 1905, firstly as a Technical Assistant and later as an Assistant Naturalist. Stephens was a specialist in

Porifera Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

and

Cnidaria Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in Fresh water, freshwater and Marine habitats, marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocyt ...

. She published many monographs on the collections of the Natural History Museum and novel specimens deposited in the museum from various dredges. She also identified 34 species of sponge new to science from the

Scottish National Antarctic Expedition The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), 1902–1904, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in terms of prestige by Ro ...

. Stephens took part in the

in 1909 and 1910, surveying the fresh and marine sponges as well as other marine invertebrates. She worked extensively with her fellow museum worker, Eileen Barnes, an artist who illustrated many of Stephens' publications.

Later life

In 1920 Stephens married

Robert Francis Scharff Robert Francis Scharff (9 July 1858 – 13 September 1934) was an English zoologist, known for his lifetime of work in Ireland and contributions to the understanding of Irish flora and fauna. He was acting director of the National Museum of Ir ...

, who was the then acting Director of the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thr ...

and Keeper of the Natural History Division. Due to the

marriage bar A marriage bar is the practice of restricting the employment of married women. Common in Western countries from the late 19th century to the 1970s, the practice often called for the termination of the employment of a woman on her marriage, espe ...

in Ireland, Stephens had to resign her post in the Museum. Once retired, Stephens appears to have stopped any scientific research, which was not unusual for married women at that time. They had one daughter, Marjorie Patience, born in 1921. Scharff subsequently retired in 1921 and the family moved to

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and H ...

, where Scharff died in 1934. Stephens died in 1959 in London. The lack of an obituary to Stephens has been attributed to the fact that she outlived many of those she worked with during her 15-year career in Ireland, such as

Matilda Cullen Knowles Matilda Cullen Knowles (31 January 1864 – 27 April 1933) is considered the founder of modern studies of Irish lichens following her work in the early twentieth century on the multi-disciplinary Clare Island Survey. From 1923 she shared curato ...

, Eileen Barnes and Robert Lloyd Praeger.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Jane 1879 births 1959 deaths People from Clontarf, Dublin Marine zoologists 20th-century Irish women scientists Women marine biologists Women zoologists 20th-century Irish zoologists