Family background
John Richard Stevens was born on 11 May 1879 at Millers Point, Sydney, NSW, the son of John Stevens and Mary Ann Madden.
He married Ethel Elizabeth Kelly (1883-1968) at Sydney on 26 April 1911 and they had 2 sons and 3 daughters. They lived at Bourke Street, Redfern.
Stevens died on 26 October 1947 at Sydney, aged 68 years and he was buried at Waverley Cemetery. He left a will and his estate and assets were assessed at £5,438.
Occupation & interests
After leaving school (St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill), John Stevens went to work as a wool clerk (later a wool buyer) for a German firm of wool buyers.
Stevens was the owner of the Cleveland Inn in Bourke Street, Redfern for 37 years (1916-1953), however, it appears that his wife did most of the day to day running of the hotel and it was she who held the license for the Cleveland Inn. He was elected to the Council of the United Licensed Victuallers Association (later the Australian Hotels Association) for the period 1920-32. Stevens was also a member of the Rose Bay Golf Club and the Australian Jockey Club.
Stevens, a successful Redfern businessman in Bourke Street for more than three decade, was closely identified with the local community. Non-Labor representatives, like Stevens would appear in council chambers resplendent in claw hammer coats and bowties, with fob watches hanging from their chains visible expressions of respectability.
Community activity
During the depression which brought hard times to the Cleveland Inn’s patrons, John and Ethel Stevens ran an unofficial soup kitchen from the Cleveland Inn’s kitchen for the wives and children of the men drinking in the front bar.
Local government service
John Stevens was an alderman for Surry Hills Ward in 1919.
References
‘Municipal Elections’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 1919, p.1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15858824