Stewart

Submitted by edpope on

walking Stuart 12.2.1792 at Holcroft's / 28.5.1793 Stuart calls / 12.2.1798 Stewart at Fordyce's / 31.1.1800 Stewart calls / 19.2.1800 meet Stewart / 26.3.1800 Stewart col at King's / 5.6.1800 meet Stewart / 9.9.1800 Stewart at Taggart's / 16.10.1800 meet W Stewart / 21.1.1802 W Stewart calls / 8.8.1805 W Stuart calls / 2.1.1806 W Stewart calls / 2.12.1806 W Stewart calls / 6.5.1807 W Stewart calls (not seen) / 18.5.1807 Stewart calls / 26.6.1807 W Stuart calls / 4.7.1807 W Stuart calls / 12.3.1808 J Stewart calls / 30.12.1808 Stewart calls

John "Walking" Stewart DNB 1747-1822. Godwin wrote his name as Stuart in many entries which are not listed above but are coded to him on the GD website up till November 1793 so the 28.5.1793 entry above which is uncoded on GD website was most likely him as well. His DNB article states he was in the Americas in the mid to late 1790s and back in England by 1800 settling first at Bath and then London in 1803. The entry of 12.2.1798 is therefore particularly in doubt. The other guests (Fordyce, Carlisle, Clarke & Johnson) seem to have been friends of Mary Wollstonecraft (or people who helped Godwin through her labour, illness and death) and part of the purpose of the evening may have been to help Godwin's emotional recovery from her death. The Stewart col at King's in 1800 was presumably a different person but hard to identify as there plenty of Colonel Stewart/Stuarts in the Army lists.  The W Stewart entry in 1800 which has not been coded to Walking Stewart, could well have been him if Godwin was using the W initial for Walking, in which case the 1802 entry (also uncoded) may have been him as well. The 1805 to 1807 W Stuart (or Stewart) calls have not been coded to Walking Stewart on the GD website but the 1807 "Stewart calls" has been. I'm inclined to think that all W Stuart, W Stewart and J Stewart entries were Walking Stewart but the 1798 entry and the first 4 entries in 1800 were perhaps three other people, the Colonel, the one at Taggarts, and the one at Fordyce's who was most likely the two 1800 "meet Stewart" entries as well