Stephen Welsh was born in Forfar, Scotland on 5 April 1892. In 1908 he was articled to Gavin & Soutar in Forfar. Having completed his articles, in 1912 he moved to Glasgow to as an assistant to George Arthur Boswell for two years, during which time he took evening classes at Glasgow School of Art where he was taught by Eugène Bourdon. He then worked briefly as an assistant in the offices of Mills & Shepherd in Dundee and Stewart & Paterson in Glasgow.
After war service, in 1920 he entered the University of Liverpool School of Architecture. In 1921 he gained work experience in the office of Carrère & Hastings in New York City. He graduated with a B.Arch. in 1922. He was awarded a Rome Scholarship in 1922. He remained in Rome until 1925 when he returned to England, He then worked in the office of William Curtis Green in London in 1925-26 . In 1926 he was awarded the first Sir Joseph Duveen Scholarship for the study of modern buildings in North America and for a year travelled in USA and Canada, during which time he worked for John Russell Pope (1874-1937).
In 1927-28 Welsh taught at Liverpool School of Architecture. In 1928 he was appointed Head of the Department of Architecture at Sheffield University, becoming a Professor in 1948. Throughout these years Welsh maintained a private practice.
Welsh was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1921 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1934. He died in Sheffield on 13 January 1976
Students' Union at Sheffield University; the church of St. James and St. Christopher, Shiregreen, Sheffield.
Sharples, Joseph, Powers, Alan and Shippobottom, Michael. Charles Reilly & the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904-1933. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 25 October 1996 - 2 February 1997. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996 p. 179 [May contain other references to Welsh, unfortunately, the catalogue is not indexed]