Stenhouse was born in Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland He was also a friend of
Thomas De Quincey. He was on the committee of the Sydney Mechanic's School of Arts (1855–73) and served as its president (1867–73), a committee-man on the Australian Library and Literary Institution (1857–69) and on the
Balmain Municipal Council and was appointed its chairman in 1862. Not long before his death he was, on the motion of Dr.
Charles Badham, appointed an examiner in the Faculty of Law and a member of the senate of the
University of Sydney. He succeeded Dr.
John Woolley as president of the
Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, and held the position from 1867 to 1873. Stenhouse died on 18 February 1873 in
Balmain, New South Wales. He was survived by his wife, Margaretta, who he had married in Sydney in 1846, five daughters and two sons. ==References==