William S. Stewart
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STEWART, K.C., WILLIAM SNODGRASS, lawyer and judge; b. 13 February 1855 in Marshfield, son of Alexander and Florence Stewart; m. 27 September 1892 Annie Augusta Beer, and there were no children; Presbyterian; d. 11 February 1938 in Charlottetown. Stewart. a Conservative, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1912 for 5th Queens. Before this he had been defeated in the 1893 general election for 3,d Queens, and in the 1908 general election for 2nd Queens. He was also defeated in the federal arena, in the 1900 federal election by L. H. Davies* in West Queen’s. Stewart served as a Minister without Portfolio in the Mathieson* Administration from 1912 to 1914, when he resigned his seat to accept an appointment as a Queens County Judge. Stewart received his early education at the district school in Marshfield. He attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, studied at Dalhousie University in Halifax for one term, then entered McGill University in Montreal where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours and the Chapman Gold Medal. He left McGill in1878 to study law under Frederick Peters* in Charlottetown, and was admitted to the Bar in 1883. That year he moved to Summerside, where he worked for several years as a partner in the Peters firm. Eventually Stewart moved back to Charlottetown to open his own practice. Stewart was made Judge of the County Court of Queens on 22 July 1914, and, on the death of the Honourable W. W. Sullivan*, became Judge of the Admiralty Court. He retired from the bench in February 1930. After his retirement, Stewart entered municipal politics and in 1932 became Mayor of Charlottetown. He served in this position until the election of 1934. Stewart was well-known and well-respected in the province. Late in life he continued to express his views through letters and opinion pieces in the Island press. William Stewart died 11 February 1938. Annie Stewart was the daughter of Henry Beer*, also a mayor of Charlottetown, and Amelia Ings. She died 11 February 1938., CPC 1897, 1901, 1909, 1914; Patriot 12 February 1938; PARO: MNI- Census 1881, 1891.