Author: Stuart, Robert
Biography:
STUART, Robert (1812-48: ODNB)
pseudonym Markham
Bookseller and historian. He was the eldest son of Mary (Milless) and William Stuart, a merchant, and was born at Glasgow. Because his father was often away for business, he was sent in infancy to live with his maternal grandparents near Perth. In 1819, he moved to be with his parents first at Nice and then Gibraltar before returning to Scotland in 1821 to attend a boarding school. In 1825, his parents came back to Scotland and he lived with them. His father started a bookselling business in 1826 and Robert worked with him, taking over the business entirely in 1836—the same year that he married Jane Watt Thomson. They were to have four children; the last, a daughter, was born after Robert’s sudden death from cholera. His death notice comments on his “gentle manners, extensive acquirements, and great ability.” His two other publications are Caledonia Romana: Roman Antiquities in Scotland (1845) and Views and Notices of Glasgow in Former Times (1848). He also contributed Byronic verse and prose to magazines, including Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. He is identified as the author of Ina in the DNB but not the ODNB; there is, however, no doubt of his authorship of the book. The copy in Harvard (Widener) is inscribed and dated by the author, and the work is listed in his file in the Royal Literary Fund archives. His wife, Jane, wrote to the Fund on 4 June 1849 requesting assistance for the family; she was awarded £60. (DNB; ODNB 6 Oct. 2020; ancestry.co.uk 6 Oct. 2020; Marriage notice, Perthshire Courier 14 Jan. 1836; Death notice, Glasgow Herald 25 Dec. 1848; RLF file 1223) SR