ARCHIVES
MR PAUL MISHURA SCHOOL ARCHIVIST
CANADIAN ARMY SOLDIER FREDERICK WILLIAM STEWART WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN WORLD WAR I
Was he a Scotchie ?
ABOVE : PART OF THE FORM SIGNED
BY STEWART
WHEN JOINING THE CANADIAN OVER-SEAS EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
THE ONLY KNOWN IMAGE OF STEWART , CIRCA 1886
At least 1362 Scotchies served in World War I , of whom 223 are known to have died . It is impossible to give definite numbers , as additional Old Boy servicemen continue to be identified . Scotch ’ s oldest and youngest known servicemen were born in 1849 and 1902 respectively , with the fates of 375 born between those years still unknown .
On 13 February 1883 Frederick William Stewart was enrolled at Scotch by J . C . Stewart of Jolimont . Born on 8 April 1872 , he was Presbyterian , won prizes for gymnastics , and left in 1886 . Nothing else was known about him .
On 10 August 1915 , a Frederick William Stewart enlisted at Montreal in the Canadian Over-seas [ sic ] Expeditionary Force ( CEF ). Born on 23 April 1872 at Melbourne , he was Anglican , a married artist , and the son of J . C . Stewart of 46 Queen Street , Melbourne . He had Cadet Corps experience . A member of the 19th Battalion of the ( Central Ontario ) CEF , on 15 September 1916 , Frederick was killed in action . That day , the 19th mopped up German resistance behind 4th Brigade troops leading the successful attack on Germans at Courcelette . They saw tanks used on the battlefield for the first time . Frederick was among over 250 members of the 19th killed , missing or wounded under intense German shellfire . Melbourne death notices came from his father , J . C . Stewart , solicitor , and Frederick ’ s wife , Ada Ellen Stewart .
Were the Scotchie and the soldier the same person ? Their birthdates differed by 15 days . Their names were identical , albeit common . The Scotchie was enrolled by a J . C . Cooper ; the soldier was the son of a J . C . Cooper . One was Presbyterian , the other Anglican . The differences were small , but enough that they could have been different people . Scotch ’ s Cadets were formed in 1884 ,
and Frederick was old enough to have served by his final year . The soldier ’ s older brothers attended Wesley College – when the family lived nearby .
A Melbourne birth notice for the soldier confirms his birthdate , but his birth was never registered . His marriage certificate confirmed his father was solicitor James Cooper Stewart who – if confirmed as living in Jolimont in 1883 – would help establish that the Scotchie / soldier was his son . Sands and McDougall Directories for 1882 and 1884 did not list him in Jolimont .
James Cooper Stewart was an Elder of Scots Church , Collins Street , and Law Agent for the Presbyterian Church . After an 1881 disagreement with the Church , he went to England with his family , returning in November 1882 . He resigned as Law Agent after a failed 1883 reconciliation attempt . Jolimont rates records have a J . C . Stewart renting an 11-roomed brick house in Jolimont Terrace . It was a large house , and James Cooper Stewart – if he was the Scotch boy ’ s ‘ J . C .’ – had a large family . Rates records show the owner living in it in 1882 , and that it had no tenant in 1884 . Hawthorn rates records for the year commencing 28 November 1883 show that James Cowper [ sic , erroneous ] Stewart , solicitor , was then living in Barkers Road , Hawthorn .
I concluded that the birthdate in the Scotch Register was erroneous , which was not then uncommon . James Cooper Stewart ( who was 1885-86 Mayor of Melbourne ) returned to Melbourne and rented in Jolimont , near Scots Church , while his Hawthorn house was being built , sending Frederick to Scotch . Frederick was Presbyterian , but after his father ’ s disagreement with the Church , became Anglican . He was therefore the soldier who gave his life in France on 15 September 2016 .
92 Great Scot Issue 163 – September 2021