John Stewart (1789 – 14 March 1860) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

politician and pro-

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

lobbyist. He was possibly the second mixed-race

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

after James Townsend.

Family

Stewart was an illegitimate son of former

Camelford Camelford ( kw, Reskammel) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Bodmin and is governed ...

Tory MP John Stewart (1754/5–1826) and Mary Duncan. Upon his father's death, he took ownership of plantations in Grenada and

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state ...

, as well as the family home in Albany, London. However, by 1830, he was living in Wellington Street, Westminster, with his wife, Elizabeth, née Vincent, and son William Duncan Stewart (born April 1829). On 14 December 1848, Stewart remarried to Phoebe Rossiter, daughter of Joseph Rossiter.

Business career

After the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

in 1833, Stewart was compensated £22,486 for the

plantation in British Guiana, where 433 were enslaved. He retained possession of this estate, as well as Stewartville, also in British Guiana, and purchased a further estate in the region in 1839, importing some labour from Madeira to Annandale. Also, a trustee of the Hope Vale estate in Grenada, in 1836 he claimed to have owned the "largest slave state" in Antigua between 1824 and 1826. By the 1850s, he was well-established in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, investing at least £16,000 in the British railways. He became a director of the British West India Company in 1846, a member of the provisional committee of the Demerara Railway Company in the same year, a director of the London and Westminster Joint Stock Bank; and deputy chairman of the Universal Life Assurance Society.

Member of Parliament

Stewart became parliament's first mixed-race MP when he was elected Tory MP for

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

at the 1832 general election. During this election, he defended his record as a slave owner and rebuffed arguments that slaves on his Demerara estates were subject to cruelty. After his election, he presented a petition to the Commons against the

, and often spoke in defence of West Indian plantation owners, sharing concerns over apprenticeships and sugar duties with other MPs with West Indian interests. Becoming a Conservative MP in 1834, Stewart then went on to oppose

Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet (26 May 1782 – 23 December 1874), also known as Sir George Cholmley was an English Member of Parliament and lawyer. He took the name Cholmley to succeed to the Cholmley estates in 1865. Life Strickland was t ...

's motion that apprenticeships should be abolished on 1 August 1838, and in 1833 and the 1840s, he opposed the reduction of sugar duties, although this latter position was "a little inconsistent". While a supporter of free trade, the abolition of the

Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...

, and Robert Peel's government, he voted against the government on some occasions. However, these positions ultimately led to his downfall at the 1847 general election, when he was defeated. While his career was "undistinguished", "the bigoted anti-colour party in the West Indies could never get over his election by an English borough, but he was extremely popular with his constituents".

References

External links

*
John Stewart
at Legacies of British Slavery {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, John 1789 births 1860 deaths UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Tory MPs (pre-1834) Black British MPs