Eliza Stephens was an English governess. She worked for the English aristocrat Mary Eleanor Bowes as a governess and companion and was instrumental in helping Andrew Robinson Stoney become Bowes's second husband. It is possible she had an affair with Stoney and carried his child when she married Reverend Henry Stephens, tutor to the Bowes children, shortly after meeting him. Eliza and Henry received a £1,000 payment and a £200 annuity after the Stoney–Bowes marriage. Henry became a curate in Ponteland, and Eliza assisted Stoney in keeping Bowes's daughter Mary from seeing her until Bowes won a divorce in 1789.

Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne was a notable member of the British aristocracy during the Georgian period in the 18th century.