William Stephenson
William Stephenson, taken from a newspaper article.
We know that William "Bill" Gordon Stephenson was born in Cramlington on 28 June 1903 and died in April 1960, aged 56.
The 1921 census records him living in Cramlington with his parents, Andrew William Stephenson (1864-1927) and Mary Eleanor Dixon (1860-1946). In the same census, all three Stephenson siblings were listed as single. Bill's occupation was as a surface coal mine labourer.
His sister, Rose, later married fellow Train Wrecker Arthur Wilson, making them brothers-in-law.
In April 1925, aged 21, Bill married Ada Thompson (1903-1974).
A young miner. William Stephenson outside his Dudley home with his parents and elder brother.
(Image credit: Janette Packer)
Mysteriously, the Ancestry document (below) shows a timeline of his life that records he resided in Newcastle on 8 June 1926, when he was committed to prison on 7 June 1926.
In 1926, Bill and Ada's only child, a son, George W. Stephenson (1926-2012), was born on 19 September 1926 on Tynemouth Road (most likely in North Shields).
Bill's parents, Arthur and Mary, are recorded as living in Tynemouth in 1926, so it is highly likely that Ada, having no independent means of living, had moved in with her in-laws in North Shields. Hence, the birth of their son George W. Stephenson on Tynemouth Road.
George W. Stephenson was born in September 1926, so just after his father was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Hence, Ada was heavily pregnant at the time of Bill's sentencing, aged 22 (he was three weeks shy of his 23rd birthday).
Bill never got to see his only child grow up as a toddler. George would have been three years old when Bill was released on 11 July 1929, aged 26.
Bill's father, Andrew, died in June 1927, while Bill was in prison. It is almost certain that Bill wasn't granted or (more likely) probably refused compassionate release to attend the funeral.
After release, Bill returned to Wrightson Pit - alongside the traitors who'd turned King's evidence. Other than that, we know little about Bill after his release except, from the Ancestry timeline, Bill and Ada (and George, now 12 or 13) were living in Northumberland (most likely Cramlington) in 1939.
William Gordon Stephenson's Ancestry timeline and record in the 1921 census.
(With thanks to Brian Ridley)