Stokes was born in Ireland in 1819 and came up to Pembroke in 1837. He was then elected to a Fellowship from 1841. He vacated his Fellowship on his marraige on 4 July 1857. He was re-elected on 22 May 1867 after Fellows were allowed to be married. He was elected Master in 1902 just a few months before his death in 1903. He also held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1849, as well as being President of the Royal Society (1885-1890) and Member of Parliament for the University (1887-1892). In July 1889 Queen Victoria created him the Baronet Stokes of Lensfield Cottage. He died in February 1903 and he was buried in the Mill Road Cemetry next to his wife and near his children.