Martin Stevens was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician.

Stevens was educated at Orley Farm School

Orley Farm School

Orley Farm School is a fee paying school in the London borough of Harrow, at the foot of Harrow Hill on South Hill Avenue. It was founded as the preparatory school for Harrow School, although now only a few leavers go on there. It currently has a little under 500 pupils, and ages range from 4 to...

, Bradfield

Bradfield

-Australia:* Division of Bradfield, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wales-England:* Bradfield, Berkshire, England** Bradfield College, a public school in Bradfield, Berkshire, England* Bradfield, Devon, England...

 and Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

, and was a company director. He served as a member of the London County Council

London County Council

London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

 from 1955–58 and a councillor on Camberwell Borough Council

Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell

Camberwell was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in the County of London. The borough was created in 1900 by the London Government Act 1899, covering the area of the ancient parish of Camberwell...

 from 1959-65.

Stevens contested Dulwich

Dulwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Dulwich was a borough constituency in the Dulwich area of South London, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 in 1964 and 1966. He became a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Fulham

Fulham (UK Parliament constituency)

Fulham was a borough constituency based around the London district of Fulham. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1918 and from 1955 to 1997....

 in 1979 when he gained the seat from Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

. Stevens held Fulham until his death in 1986 aged 56. Labour's Nick Raynsford

Nick Raynsford

Wyvill Richard Nicolls Raynsford , known as Nick Raynsford, is a British Labour Party politician. A government minister from 1997 to 2005, he has been the Member of Parliament for Greenwich & Woolwich since 1997, having previously been MP for Greenwich from 1992 to 1997, and for Fulham from 1986...

 gained his seat in the resulting by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

, although it was taken back by the Conservatives in 1987.