Stephen Hold was born in Porthoustock, Cornwall on 24 January 1868. 

He was the second of four children born to Stephen Hold (1835-1876), a Warrant Officer in the Royal Navy, and Anna Maria Connor (1845-1920) of St Mawes. 

He was brother to Henrietta (b. 1866, later Mrs Thomas Henry Anstey), Arthur Wallace (b. 1872) and Emma (b. 1875, later Mrs Frederick Pote Hooper). 

Stephen first appears on the 1871 census when he, his mother and sister Henrietta were living at Charlotte Terrace West in Stoke Damerel, Devon; his father was absent at the time was stationed near Malta; he died on 14 May 1876, leaving behind a widow and four children.

The family had moved to Devonport, Devon sometime prior to 1875 and appear on the 1881 census living at 7 Albert Road, a tobacconist and stationer's shop run by Hold's unmarried aunts Lavinia and Henrietta; Stephen was absent, having already commenced a career at a young age and on 22 February 1883 In Liverpool he was apprenticed into the Royal Navy.

Hold's movements over the following decades are difficult to ascertain; there are no further records for his naval service and when he shows up again in 1900 he was working as a sign painter and lodging at Third Street in San Francisco, California, claiming to have migrated to the States in 1875 but 1912 news reports state that he had been living in the USA for fifteen years. 

Described as a clerk, on 29 July 1909 Hold returned to Britain aboard Adriatic; during his prolonged stay he was married on 18 October 1909 to childhood acquaintance Margaret Annie Hill (b. 1883), a resident of St Keverne, Cornwall. His new wife accompanied him back to America aboard Teutonic on 17 November 1909. Stephen and Margaret settled in Sacramento, California, appearing there on the 1910 census when he was by then described as a garage chauffeur. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and had also been a president of the Order of the Sons of St George. He was employed as a chauffeur by a Captain W. H. Bradley since around 1908 and also drove an electric bus for the Hotel Sacramento.
Contemporary media reports that due to the illness of Mrs Hold or of a relative (sources differ as to who it was) back in England the Holds departed California in November 1911; they arrived in Southampton on 16 December 1911 aboard Olympic. For at least some of their time in England they stayed at 31 St Georges Terrace, Devonport, the home address of his sister Henrietta and her family and which was also the home of his mother. 

A card sent to his employer in April 1912 indicated that he and his wife were to arrive back in Sacramento shortly. Interestingly this card was posted in Liverpool which may indicate they were due to sail from that port but had their passage switched to Titanic due to the coal strikes. They embarked Titanic at Southampton and travelled second class under ticket number 26707, costing £26, 0s for them both.

Stephen Hold was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. He left $4000 in his will to his widow.

Margaret Hold later returned to England and remarried; she died in 1960.