Stephen Alford FRHistS (born 1970) is a British historian and academic. He has been professor of early modern British history at the University of Leeds since 2012.

Educated at the University of St Andrews, he was formerly a British Academy Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge (1997–99) and junior research fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and, between 1999 and 2012, a fellow in history at King's College, Cambridge.^[1] He has been a fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2000. He was taught by John Guy.^[2]

• The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558-1569. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI. Cambridge University Press, 2002.
• Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008.
• The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I. Allen Lane, 2012.^[3][4][5][6] ISBN 9780141930848
• Edward VI: The last boy king. Allen Lane, 2014. ISBN 9780141976914
• London's Triumph: Merchant Adventurers and the Tudor City. Allen Lane, 2017.^[7][8] ISBN 9780241003589