John Robert Stevenson was born on 2 July 1898 in Orange, New South Wales. He was 19 years old and working as a clerk when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 November 1915. Embarking from Sydney with the 13th reinforcements to the 17th Battalion aboard HMAT Kyarra on 5 June 1916, Stevenson joined the13th Battalion in Belgium on 20 October 1916 and also served with the battalion’s band. He returned to Australia in 1919 and married Winifred Williamson three years later. The couple had two sons, and Stevenson died in the Sydney suburb of Kingsgrove on 17 November 1982.