Life

Stuart was born in November 1813 at Forgue, Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, where his father had a small farm. He was educated at Aberdeen University, and in 1836 became a member of the Aberdeen Society of Advocates. In 1853 he was appointed one of the official searchers of records in the Register House, Edinburgh, and in 1873 became principal keeper of the register of deeds. In 1854 he was appointed secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...

, and was central to its operation.

In 1839, along with Joseph Robertson

Joseph Robertson (historian)

-Life:He was born in Aberdeen on 17 May 1810. His father, having tried his fortune in England, had returned to his native county, where he was first a small farmer, and afterwards a small shopkeeper, at Wolmanhill, Aberdeen. His mother was left a widow when Joseph was only seven, and he was...

 (1810–1866) and Cosmo Innes

Cosmo Innes

Cosmo Nelson Innes was a Scottish historian and antiquary.Innes was educated at Edinburgh High School, at Aberdeen and Glasgow Universities, and at Balliol College, Oxford. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1822, and was appointed Professor of Constitutional Law and History in the...

, he joined the 'Spalding Club

Spalding Club

The Spalding Club is the name of successive antiquarian societies founded in Aberdeen.The clubs were named for the seventeenth century historian John Spalding....

,' of which he acted as secretary till the close of its operations in 1870. Of the thirty-eight quarto volumes issued by the club, fourteen were produced under Stuart's editorship. Prominent among these were the two large folios on The Sculptured Stones of Scotland, published in 1856 and 1867, and regarded by antiquarians as one of their most important books of reference. Another of the Spalding volumes is The Book of Deer, published in 1869, a reproduction by Stuart of a manuscript copy of the Gospels which belonged to the abbey of Deer—of great historical and linguistic value, especially with regard to the Celtic history of Scotland.
At the final meeting, on 23 Dec. 1870, Stuart was presented by the club with a piece of plate and his portrait, the work of Mr. (now Sir) George Reid

George Reid

George Reid may refer to:*George Reid , American Revolutionary War general*Sir George Reid *Sir George Reid , Prime Minister of Australia...

.

In 1866 the university of Aberdeen conferred on him the degree of LL.D. He was elected an honorary member of the Royal Archaeological Institute

Royal Archaeological Institute

The Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is a learned society, established in 1844, primarily devoted to the publication of the Archaeological Journal, a production of archaeological news that has been in print since 1844....

and of the Society of Antiquaries of Zurich and the Assemblea di Storia Patria in Palermo.

He died at Ambleside on 19 July 1877. He was twice married, and was survived by his second wife and two daughters of the first marriage.

Stuart's love of study lay for the most part within a limited range. In the more general bearings of archaeology he took little interest, but in the deciphering of records and illustrations he did yeoman service.

Works

Stuart contributed largely to the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, especially on the subject of Scottish crannog

Crannog

A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...

s. Two very able papers were also given on the history of the crozier of St. Fillan, and an account of the priory of Restennet, near Forfar. For the society he edited two volumes of ancient chartularies

Chartulary

A cartulary or chartulary , also called Pancarta and Codex Diplomaticus, is a medieval manuscript volume or roll containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the foundation, privileges, and legal rights of ecclesiastical establishments, municipal corporations, industrial...

, entitled Records of the Isle of May, 1868, and Records of the Monastery of Kinloss, 1872.

Of his researches among old family records there remains the Registrum de Panmure, two quarto volumes, printed by the Earl of Dalhousie

Earl of Dalhousie

Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, held by the Chief of Clan Ramsay.-History:This family descends from Sir George Ramsay, who represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1617. He received a charter of the barony of Dalhousie and also...

in 1874. At the instance of the historical records commission he examined the charter chests of the Scottish nobility and furnished reports. Among the records at Dunrobin Castle he discovered the original dispensation for the marriage of Bothwell and Lady Jane Gordon. This find gave Stuart the opportunity of discussing, as he did in his volume, A Lost Chapter in the History of Mary Queen of Scots (Edinburgh, 1874), the law and practice of Scotland relating to marriage dispensations in Roman Catholic times.

For the Burgh Records Society Stuart edited two volumes of Extracts from the Burgh Records of Aberdeen, 1625–1747, and he also edited an edition of Archaeological Essays of the late Sir J. Y. Simpson, 1872.

Among the other works which Stuart prepared for publication by the Spalding Club were,

• Miscellanies, three volumes, published in 1841, 1842, and 1849.
• Extracts from the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie, 1631–54, published in 1843
• Extracts from the Council Register of Aberdeen, 1398–1625, 2 vols., issued in 1844–9
• Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and England from 1624 to 1645, printed in 1850–1851
• Notices of the Spalding Club, prepared in 1871 as a record of its labours.

In addition to the works mentioned, Stuart edited for the Spalding Club:

• A brieffe narration of the services done to three noble ladyes, by Gilbert Blakhal, 1844.
• Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen from 1562 to 1681, 1846.
• Memoir of the late A. H. Rhind of Sibster, Edinburgh, 1864, 8vo. A biographical sketch of Alexander Henry Rhind
  Alexander Henry Rhind
  Alexander Henry Rhind was a Scottish lawyer and Egyptologist.Born in Wick on 26 July 1833 in the Highlands, Rhind studied at the University of Edinburgh...
  
  .