Australian Dictionary of Biography

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John junior Stewart (1832–1904)

by J. C. Beardwood and D. F. Stewart

This article was published:

John Stewart junior (1832-1904), veterinary surgeon, was born in Edinburgh, son of John Stewart, veterinary surgeon, and his wife Annie, née Robinson. Educated at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College he gained the certificate of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. He became a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and set up a 'business and practice' in Glasgow, but about 1860 migrated to New South Wales. At Campbelltown on 21 January 1862 he married Jessie, daughter of James Walker of Parramatta.

Stewart first practised at Morpeth but after a few months moved to Windsor where he established a veterinary hospital. According to his obituary in the Hawkesbury Herald, 26 February 1904, he was appointed an inspector of pleuro-pneumonia in cattle in 1862 and was asked by (Sir) John Robertson to report on the efficacy of inoculation against the disease; about 1863 during an outbreak of scab he became a sheep inspector. In 1865 he set up another veterinary hospital and a forge at Bathurst, which were at first successful but were abandoned in 1876 because of drought. About the same time his Windsor hospital was moved to Castlereagh Street, Sydney, where his eldest son John Malcolm joined him in practice. Reputedly veterinary inspector for the Agricultural Society of New South Wales, he was honorary veterinary surgeon and a committee-man of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 1877 in the Agricultural Society's Journal he published an article, 'Horses' Feet and Horseshoeing'. He became foundation president of the Veterinary Medical Association of New South Wales in 1894, the first successful veterinary organization in Australia and next year participated in the Department of Agriculture's conference of agricultural societies. He was an elder of the Windsor Presbyterian congregation.

Aged 72, Stewart died of diabetes at Church Street, Windsor, on 15 February 1904. Predeceased by his wife, he was survived by five sons and by three of his five daughters; his estate was valued for probate at £1952. Two of his sons became veterinary surgeons of whom the best known was James Douglas, who was lecturer in elementary science at the Sydney Technical College in the late 1890s and early 1900s, and professor of veterinary science at the University of Sydney in 1910-39.

Select Bibliography

  • Hawkesbury Herald, 26 Feb 1904
  • printed catalogue (State Library of New South Wales).

Citation details

J. C. Beardwood and D. F. Stewart, 'Stewart, John junior (1832–1904)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stewart-john-junior-4647/text7671, published first in hardcopy 1976, accessed online 30 March 2024.

This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, (Melbourne University Press), 1976

View the front pages for Volume 6

© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024

Life Summary [details]

Birth

1832
Edinburgh, Mid-Lothian, Scotland

Death

15 February, 1904 (aged ~ 72)
Windsor, New South Wales, Australia

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

Occupation