Thoby Stephen
Julian Thoby Stephen (9 September 1880 – 20 November 1906), known as the Goth, was the brother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, both prominent members of the Bloomsbury Group, and of Adrian Stephen. The eldest son of Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep Stephen. The result of his mother's second marriage, he was therefore a half-brother of George and Gerald Duckworth, her sons with first husband Herbert Duckworth. • Illustration — Grave of Sir Leslie Stephen, Julia Stephen and Julian Stephen in Highgate Cemetery Stephen was educated at Clifton College, after failing to gain a place at Eton.
Also recorded as Julian Thoby Stephen · The Goth
Thoby Stephen
George Charles Beresford · National Portrait Gallery, London [1] · Public domain
- Name
- Thoby Stephen
- Birth Name
- Julian Thoby Stephen
- Born
- 9 September 1880
- Died
- 20 November 1906
- Place of death
- England
- Nationality
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- painter
- Movements
- Bloomsbury Group
- Education
- Clifton College · Trinity College
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Julian Thoby Stephen (9 September 1880 – 20 November 1906), known as the Goth, was the brother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, both prominent members of the Bloomsbury Group, and of Adrian Stephen. The eldest son of Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep Stephen. The result of his mother's second marriage, he was therefore a half-brother of George and Gerald Duckworth, her sons with first husband Herbert Duckworth. • Illustration — Grave of Sir Leslie Stephen, Julia Stephen and Julian Stephen in Highgate Cemetery Stephen was educated at Clifton College, after failing to gain a place at Eton.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Thoby Stephen. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2391307 · wikipedia · Thoby Stephen
In this article
Biography
Biography
However, this did not hold him back, since he won an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, from Clifton. He was a friend of Lytton Strachey, who was enchanted by his masculinity and introduced him to the "Reading Club". He was described as "over six feet tall and of somewhat ponderous build". Stephen is credited with starting the Bloomsbury Group's Thursday evening gatherings. He was expected to distinguish himself, but he contracted typhoid at the age of 26 while on holiday in Greece, and died shortly after he was brought back to England. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery with his father and mother. Vanessa Bell's eldest son, the poet Julian Bell, was named after him. He is the basis for the character of Tibby Schlegel in E.M. Forster's 1910 novel Howards End. Virginia Woolf's 1931 novel The Waves is considered by some critics to make significant reference to Thoby Stephen.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Thoby Stephen • Birth Name — Julian Thoby Stephen • Born — 9 September 1880 • Died — 20 November 1906 • Place of death — England • Parents — Leslie Stephen Julia Stephen • Relatives — Vanessa Bell (sister) Virginia Woolf (sister) Adrian Stephen (brother) George Duckworth (maternal half-brother) Gerald Duckworth (maternal half-brother)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1880
Thoby Stephen born.
1906
Thoby Stephen died at England.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1."Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p192: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
- 2.Stephen, Julian Thoby.
- 3.Scott, Bonnie Kime. Refiguring Modernism: Women of 1928. Indiana University Press. 188–. 1995. 0-253-20995-1.
- 4.Document: Woolf's Letter to a Young Poet. Paris Review.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,017 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Therese SchachnerArtist
- Thérèse SteinmetzArtist
- Thierry BischArtist
- Thierry NoirArtist
- Thom BierdzArtist
- Thom MerrickArtist
- Thoman BurgkmairArtist
- Thomas Abiel PriorArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Thoby Stephen?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.