William Stewart (July 24, 1803 – March 21, 1856) was a businessman and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

and

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. An immigrant from Scotland, he settled in

Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod ...

(now

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

) where he was active in business and public life. He was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

, serving from 1843 to 1847. He died in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1856, while representing the interests of the city of Ottawa.

Early life and family

Stewart was born in Carbost, Loch Harport on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

, Scotland in 1803 to Ranald Stewart and Isabella McLeod. After his father's death in 1816, Stewart and his family, consisting of his recently widowed mother, grandmother, uncle, and nine siblings, emigrated to

."Stewart, William", by R. Forbes Hirsch, in ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', Vol. VIII (1851–1860).
/ref> Landing in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

, they settled in Glengarry County, Upper Canada, an area with a large Scottish population. In 1838, Stewart returned to Skye to marry Catherine Stewart, his first cousin once removed. They married at Cuidrach on the Isle of Skye, and honeymooned in London. They had five daughters and four sons.Mrs. John C. Burns, "Stewarton: A Suburb of Ottawa" (Ottawa: Historical Society of Ottawa / Société Historique d'Ottawa, Bytown Pamphlet Series No. 2, 1978).
/ref> Stewart was fluent in both English and

Scots Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongside both Irish and Manx, developed ou ...

, and acquired a working knowledge of French.

Bytown businessman

As a young man, Stewart began working for a merchant in Montreal and gained experience in the lumber trade. By 1827, he moved to

, later

, where he opened a store and a tavern, although he himself was a teetotaller. During the 1830s, he was part of the

Ottawa River timber trade The Ottawa River timber trade, also known as the Ottawa Valley timber trade or Ottawa River lumber trade, was the nineteenth century production of wood products by Canada on areas of the Ottawa River and the regions of the Ottawa Valley and weste ...

and was a founding member of the Ottawa Lumber Association. He sold land in the Sandy Hill area of the town on behalf of Louis-Théodore Besserer. Stewart also operated a large farm along the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

. In 1835, while in London, Stewart presented submissions to the British government on behalf of Bytown residents and Montreal merchants, arguing for the need for navigational improvements to the Ottawa River. Three years later, in 1838, he gave testimony in the British Parliament about the feasibility of a water route linking Lake Huron to the Ottawa River. The next year, he made similar submissions to the Governor General, Lord Durham. Although initially prosperous, Stewart suffered financial losses in the mid-1840s as a result of a glut in timber and drop in prices. He eventually left the timber trade and concentrated on his extensive farm operations, as well as acquiring considerable landholdings in Bytown, and in the neighbouring counties of Carleton and Renfrew.

Community activity

Stewart was very active in his community, both in business matters and community service. On the business side, he was a member of the Bytown board of trade and a director for the

Bank of British North America The Bank of British North America was founded by royal charter issued in 1836 in London, England. British North America was the common name by which the British colonies and territories that now comprise Canada were known prior to 1867. By 189 ...

. Stewart was elected to the first town council in 1828. He helped found the Carleton General Protestant Hospital, which became the

Ottawa Civic Hospital The Ottawa Civic Hospital is one of three main campuses of The Ottawa Hospital – along with the General and Riverside campuses. With 549 beds (including the Heart Institute), the Civic Campus has the region's only adult-care trauma centre, servin ...

, and also Wallis House. He was a founding member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church; a vice-president of the Highland Society of Canada; director of the Bytown Emigration Society; and president of the Agricultural Society of Carleton County. During the time of the Shiners' War, a conflict between French-Canadian and Irish lumbermen, he helped form the Association for the Preservation of the Peace. He was also active in the local militia.

Political career

In 1841, Stewart stood for election to represent Bytown in the first Parliament of the Province of Canada. However, he was unsuccessful, being defeated by Stewart Derbishire, the preferred candidate of the

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

, Lord Sydenham. Stewart was the first to declare his candidacy, in a public address to the electors in August 1840. Three other candidates followed, also announcing their intention to stand for election, but the situation changed in late September, when Sydenham paid a short visit to Bytown. He persuaded the three other declared candidates to withdraw, in favour of Derbishire, a parachute candidate from Montreal who had never set foot in Bytown.Hamnett Hill, K.C., "Bytown Election of 1841" (Ottawa: Historical Society of Ottawa / Société Historique d'Ottawa, Bytown Pamphlet Series No. 18, 1986).
/ref> Stewart refused to withdraw. In the election, held on March 8 and 9, 1841, Derbishire carried the poll, by a vote of 52 to 29. Stewart immediately issued two public protests, accusing the returning officer of partisanship in favour of Derbishire, but did not contest the outcome further. He did not carry a grudge against Derbishire, and worked with him on local issues. Stewart continued to have political interests, and two years later an opportunity appeared. William Draper was the sitting member for Russell, a rural riding east of Bytown. In 1843, Draper accepted an appointment to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, the upper house of the provincial parliament, vacating his seat in the Assembly. Stewart contested the resulting by-election, and at one point was escorted to Russell by a brigade of uniformed volunteer firemen from Bytown. He was elected to replace Draper. The next year, 1844, there was a general election for Parliament. Derbishire did not stand for re-election, having accepted a position as

Queen's Printer The King's Printer (known as the Queen's Printer during the reign of a female monarch) is typically a bureau of the national, state, or provincial government responsible for producing official documents issued by the King-in-Council, Ministers ...

for the Province. Stewart ran in the Bytown seat and was elected. He represented Bytown in Parliament from 1844 to 1847. In the Assembly, Stewart showed himself to be a moderate Tory, generally voting in support of the positions of the Governor General.Paul G. Cornell, ''Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93-111. He proposed a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

linking the Ottawa River to

Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...

and drafted the bill incorporating Bytown. He was criticised for drawing the town boundaries to exclude his own farming property, making it subject to lower tax rates. He defended the boundaries on the basis that he was following the boundaries drawn by Lord Sydenham for the electoral district of Bytown. Stewart stood for re-election in the general election of 1848 but was defeated. He tried again in the elections of 1851 and 1854, but was defeated each time. In the 1851 election, he was affiliated with the British American League, a group of Conservatives and Tories who favoured the British connection and the unification of all of British America.

Death

Stewart became ill and died in

in 1856 while acting as an agent for the city of Ottawa in dealings with the provincial government. His close political associate, Robert Bell, was with him at his bedside before his death.

John Sandfield Macdonald John Sandfield Macdonald, (December 12, 1812 – June 1, 1872) was the joint premier of the Province of Canada from 1862 to 1864. He was also the first premier of Ontario from 1867 to 1871, one of the four founding provinces created at Can ...

, the member for Glengarry, was also present at his deathbed, and drew up his will.

Legacy

His son, McLeod Stewart, was mayor of Ottawa from 1887 to 1888. His brother

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. As a surname ...

also served in the assembly for the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. Stewart owned considerable land in the area now known as Ottawa's

Centretown Centretown is a neighbourhood in Somerset Ward, in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Qu ...

. The Victoria Memorial Museum Building is located on the land that made up Stewart's farm. Several streets in the area were named for members of his family: Catherine Street for his wife, McLeod Street for his son, Flora Street, Isabella Street, and Florence Street for his daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, William 1803 births 1856 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West