George H. Steuart (politician)

George Hume Steuart, (1700–1784) was a Scottish physician, mayor of Annapolis, tobacco planter, and Loyalist politician in colonial Maryland. Born in Perthshire, Steuart emigrated to Maryland in around 1721, where he benefited from proprietarial patronage and was appointed to a number of colonial offices, eventually becoming a wealthy landowner with estates in both Maryland and Scotland. However, he was forced by the outbreak of the American Revolution to decide whether to remain loyal to the Crown or to throw in his lot with the American rebels. In 1775 Steuart sailed to Scotland, deciding at age 75 that "he could not turn rebel in his old age". He remained there until his death in 1784.
Early life.
Steuart was born in Argaty, Perthshire (now Stirling), in around 1695–1700, the second son of George Steuart and Mary Hume. His family were members of the Balquhidder Stewart clan, descendants of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, executed by King James I of Scotland in 1425.
It is likely that Steuart spoke both Gaelic and English. According to the Old Statistical Account of 1799, Scottish Gaelic was the language of the "common people" of Balquhidder and the surrounding area, although English would have been spoken in the "low country", around Stirling. This would in fact have been the Scots language of the Stirlingshire area, rather than Standard English.
Steuart's elder brother David stood to inherit the family estates, and Steuart studied medicine, receiving his MD at the University of Edinburgh. In 1721 he emigrated to Annapolis, in the colony of Maryland, where he settled and established a medical practice.
In the early 18th century Maryland was a sparsely settled, largely rural society. In 1715 the population of Annapolis was just 405, though by 1730 this number had increased to 776.
Planter and horse breeder.
In 1747 Steuart purchased the estate of Dodon in South River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay, from Stephen Warman. At Dodon, Steuart farmed tobacco and participated in match races. His most successful horse was Dungannon, which he had brought from England to compete against the stable of his rival, Charles Carroll of Annapolis (1703–1783), whose son Charles Carroll of Carrollton would later sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Dungannon won the Annapolis Subscription Plate, the first recorded formal horse race in Maryland, in May 1743. The race took place in Parole and the original silver cup is now displayed in the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Horse racing formed an important part of the social and political life of the colony, with numerous gentlemen of means forming large studs. George Washington attended early meetings of the Maryland Jockey Club, and Steuart entertained the future president at his home in Annapolis.
According to the writer Abbe Robin, who traveled through Maryland during the Revolutionary War, men of Steuart's class and status enjoyed considerable wealth and prosperity:
Politics.
Politically, Steuart was a Loyalist, his interests being closely aligned with those of the Calvert family, proprietors of the colony of Maryland. In 1742 Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore (1699–1751) sent his eldest but illegitimate son, Benedict Swingate Calvert, then aged around 10 or 20 years old, to Maryland and placed him in Steuart's care. The boy was provided with a tutor, the Italian Onorio Razzolini, and lived at Steuart's "old-fashioned house" on Francis St in Annapolis. 
Steuart evidently benefited from the Calvert family's patronage as he went on to hold a number of important Colonial offices. In 1753 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of The Horse Militia under Governor Horatio Sharpe, and he was Deputy Secretary of Maryland from 1755 to 1756. He served two one year terms as Mayor of Annapolis, from 1759 to 1761 and from 1763 to 1764. He was a judge of the Land Office (1755–1775), an office created in around 1715 to resolve disputes over title to land in the colony. 
Steuart was also member of the "Council of Twelve", and a judge of the Court of Admiralty. In recognition of his services, Lord Baltimore appears to have given Steuart the nickname "Honest Steuart", a sobriquet later thrown back at him by his political enemies.
Maryland politics could evidently be rancorous. Court records show that Steuart and his successor as Annapolis mayor, Michael MacNamara, were both required "to post a bond to keep the peace...especially with each other".
Steuart returned to Scotland in 1758 to inherit the estate of Argaty, near Doune, Perthshire, through his mother Mary Hume (also spelled "Home"), and other estates through his father. By 1761 Steuart was back in Maryland; a series of letters dated March 1761 shows him, as Commissioner of the Loan Office, attempting to collect taxes due to the Proprietary Government from Sheriffs who were behind in their payments.
Revolutionary War.
The coming of war.
In the 1760s relations between Britain and her colonies began to deteriorate. Steuart was and would remain a Loyalist; like many Scots he was likely influenced by the terrible consequences of the failed Jacobite uprisings against the Crown in his home country. Many Scots had fled to the colonies following the crushing of the Jacobite rising of 1745, and had little appetite for further rebellion. However, like other Marylanders, Steuart opposed the taxes imposed by London and in 1764 he traveled to England where he made representations to the government at Westminster. Steuart's grandson, Richard Sprigg Steuart (1797–1876), recalled in his memoirs:
Steuart's loyalist politics were opposed by, among others, Samuel Chase, co-founder of the Anne Arundel County chapter of the Sons of Liberty, a leading opponent of the 1765 Stamp Act, and later one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In an open letter dated 18 July 1766 Chase attacked John Brice, Steuart, Walter Dulany, Michael MacNamara and others for publishing an article in the Maryland Gazette Extraordinary of 19 June 1766, in which Chase had been accused of being: "a busy, reckless incendiary, a ringleader of mobs, a foul-mouthed and inflaming son of discord and faction, a common disturber of the public tranquility". In his response, Chase accused Steuart and the others of "vanity...pride and arrogance":
Such protests were essentially a complaint against a civic government which was still dominated by men loyal to the Calvert interest. However, such highly personalised attacks did little to reduce the political temperature.
War with Great Britain.
War broke out in 1775, and the fact of owning estates in both Scotland and Maryland caused Steuart considerable political difficulties. As Richard Sprigg Steuart recalled:
Ann therefore remained in America despite her own Loyalist sympathies. She would never again see her husband, and she continued to live at Dodon until her death in 1814. According to Richard Sprigg Steuart:
Aftermath.
Steuart never returned to Maryland, and he died in 1784 in Scotland, one year after the Revolutionary War ended. He was buried in Kilmadock, Perthshire. No portrait of him survives. When he left Maryland, his estates in Anne Arundel County comprised around of land. In 1780, these were transferred to his sons Charles and William, for a nominal sum.
The Argaty estate in Scotland was inherited by Steuart's eldest son, also named George Hume Steuart, who remained loyal to the British Crown. The estate, which was eventually sold in 1914, now forms part of a red kite conservation area.
Family life.
In 1744 Steuart married Ann Digges (1721-1814), of Warburton Manor. She was the daughter of the planter Charles Digges (though Nelker states that Ann's father was one George Digges), who was the son of William Digges, a member of the Maryland Proprietary Council. Her mother was Susanna Maria (Lowe) Digges.
George and Ann Steuart had ten children, of whom six survived to adulthood: 
Religion.
Steuart was an Episcopalian, though his wife Ann was a Roman Catholic. According to Richard Sprigg Steuart:
Legacy.
A stone obelisk at Dodon marks the burial place of Ann Digges and a number of other family members. The farm estate, somewhat reduced in size, still remains home to Steuart's descendants today.
The unusual spelling of "Steuart" was widespread in the 18th century ("Steuart", "Stewart" and "Stuart" being essentially interchangeable), but has since mainly fallen into disuse. However, Steuart's numerous North American descendants have retained the archaic spelling.
A silver replica of the original Annapolis Subscription Plate was commissioned in 1955 by the Maryland Jockey Club. The "Dungannon Bowl" is a perpetual trophy presented to the winner of annual Dixie Stakes, the oldest stakes race run in Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic states.