Author: Stewart, John
Biography:
STEWART, John (1749-1822: ODNB)
He identified himself on some of the title-pages of his mostly self-published works as "John Stewart the Traveller"--a fair label--but to his contemporaries, he was a notable eccentric, "Walking Stewart." His most significant writings are in prose and are either accounts of his travels or complicated arguments about humanity's place in the universe but, as ODNB observes, there are "occasional excursions into verse." His parents were Scots, John and Margaret Stewart, linen-drapers of New Bond St., London, where their only child was born. He attended Harrow and the Charterhouse but left in 1763 to work with the East India Company in Madras, with the longterm ambitions of seeing the world and improving his understanding of the human condition. After two years, he went freelance, working as an interpreter at Indian courts. In the mid 1770s he embarked on his travels--on foot as far as possible, unarmed, and on a vegetarian diet. His first tour, through India, Africa, and the Mediterranean, brought him back to London in 1783. In 1784 he set out again, walking through Europe, Central Asia, and Scandinavia. In 1791 and again between about 1795 and 1800, he was in America, journeying through Canada, the United States, and part of South America. He settled eventually in bachelor lodgings in London in 1803, where he entertained friends, worked on his philosophical system, and gave occasional lectures. His Opus Maximum (1803) includes a short autobiographical essay; an anonymous biography, The Life and Adventures of the Celebrated Walking Stewart, claiming to be "by a relative," appeared promptly in 1822 after his death--which had been caused apparently by an overdose of laudanum. (ODNB 21 Oct. 2020; WorldCat)