Stephenson, Robert

Stephenson, Robert (fl.1741–91), inspector with the linen board, seems to have been born in the north of Ireland, possibly near the town of Antrim; nothing else is known of his early life. He was apprenticed (1741–5) to a London linen merchant, and then became a linen merchant in Dublin. In the 1760s he was leasing land and an impressive house at Ravenhill in the parish of Creggan, Co. Armagh, as well as in Gallowhill, Co. Antrim, and possibly elsewhere in the north, and may have been involved in linen bleaching. John Stephenson who died in 1767 at Ravenhill was possibly his father or brother, and Samuel Martin Stephenson (qv) may have been a relative. In 1754 Stephenson presented an address to the linen board on the shortcomings and abuses of their existing projects; it is not clear if he was then in their employ, or if this initiative led to his being appointed as inspector. He reported to the board in 1755, again pointing out improprieties. An inquiry in 1756 led to a parliamentary inquiry in 1757–8, which investigated the finances and administration of the linen board, and found serious disarray in the accounts. Reforms were instituted, inefficient spinning schools were abolished, and from 1760 Stephenson undertook lengthy journeys around Ireland every year to examine how the board's grants were being spent, and analysing the state of the industry. In 1760 his journey lasted from 27 July to 9 November, and he travelled 1,526 miles; the following year he travelled a thousand miles further between 8 May and 29 October.

His reports are fairly detailed, generally enthusiastic about the industry's potential, and almost the only source of information available to historians about some of the early linen enterprises throughout the country. He visited Scotland (1773) to examine developments there, and gave evidence before a parliamentary committee in the British house of commons. He took credit for introducing various schemes to develop the industry, particularly a system of prizes to encourage the growing of flax, and sought to bring about the expansion into the south of Ireland of the brown linen markets which had been successful in the north. He also took personal credit for the general and quite remarkable expansion of the industry during his tenure of office, though economic historians suggest that his contribution might not have been the major factor in the complex developments of the 1770s and 1780s.

Stephenson was highly regarded by many contemporaries; in April 1778 he was ordered by the lord lieutenant to leave his tour of inspection to be on hand in the British house of commons during debates on bounties granted on printed linen. However, Stephenson also made enemies; the linen board saw fit to regard this as dereliction of duty and he was dismissed. In 1784 he published a defence of his record and a swingeing attack on John Arbuthnot (1729–97), one of two inspectors who had replaced him. Some attribute to him Cursory remark on Lord Sheffield's pamphlet relative to the trade and manufacture of Ireland (1785). In 1786 he published a pamphlet, Examinator's letters; or a mirror for British monopolists and Irish financiers. His last known publication was in 1791. His family circumstances are unknown; Dublin records list marriages of Robert Stephenson in 1779 and 1781 to Catherine Ashburnham and to Letitia Sawyer, but it is not certain that these records relate to him.