John Stuart was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

-born wholesale grocer and political figure in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. He represented Norfolk South

Norfolk South (Canadian electoral district)

Norfolk South was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1904. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which divided the county of Norfolk into two ridings...

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in 1874 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member.

He was born in Keith

Keith, Moray

Keith is a small town in the Moray council area in north east Scotland. It has a population of around 4,500....

, Banffshire

Banffshire

The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...

, the son of James Stuart. He was educated there, worked as a clerk in a lawyer's office and came to Canada West in 1848, settling first in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 and then Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 in 1864. In 1856, he married Jane Jacques.. In 1864, he established a wholesale grocery business in partnership with Alexander Harvey, the husband of his sister Margaret. Stuart was elected in the 1874 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1874

The Canadian federal election of 1874 was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A...

; his election was overturned after an appeal and he was defeated by William Wallace

William Wallace (Canadian politician)

William Wallace was a Canadian journalist and political figure. He represented Norfolk South in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1882 as a Conservative member....

in the by-election held in December 1874. Stuart was also vice-president of the Bank of Hamilton and a director of the Wellington, Bruce and Grey Railway. He also served as president of the Hamilton and North-Western Railway. Stuart died in Toronto at the age of 83.