STEPHEN, PATRICK JOHN (1864-1938), Methodist minister, was born on 2 February 1864 at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, son of Peter Stephen, shipmaster, and his wife Margaret, née Hay. He was educated at a Scottish national school and Harley College, London. As a youth he took part in a mission at Aberdeen and became interested in social questions and the welfare of the working class.

Arriving in Sydney in 1886, Stephen was accepted for the Wesleyan Methodist ministry. After a year's training he was appointed to the Homebush circuit. While serving at Balmain (1888-93), he married Amy Mary Blackmore on 20 March 1890 at Leichhardt; they were to remain childless. In the same year he founded the Balmain mission: he used outdoor services and brass bands to attract an audience and revived the flagging Methodist class meeting system, employing it as the training ground for new converts. An emotional fundamentalist preacher ...

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Australian Dictionary of Biography