Captain John Christie Stewart, CBE
Sir Robert's son, Captain John Christie Stewart, CBE, succeeded him as laird of Murdostoun.
Captain Stewart married Agnes Violet Averil (Ava) Douglas (b. 1901), daughter of Brigadier General Douglas Campbell and Violet Averil Margaret Vivian and grand-daughter of the first Baron Swansea, in Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, London on Saturday afternoon, February 18, 1928. Boy Scouts from the bridegroom's company in Lanarkshire and Girl Guides from the bride's company in Dumbartonshire came to London for the wedding and formed a guard of honour. Mr Stewart had Mr Jack Lockhart as best man. Canon F. Stewart of Sketry, Glamorgan; Rev. Doctor Archibald Fleming of St Columba's Church of Scotland; and Prebendary Gough of Holy Trinity were officiating clergy. A reception was held the previous day in the home of the Hon. Mrs. Merry at 18 Hill Street, Berkeley Square.
Captain Stewart served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Scottish Branch of the British Red Cross Society.
Captain Stewart was invested as Commander of the Order of the British Empire on June 12, 1947.
Captain Stewart served as Lord Lieutenant for Lanarkshire from 16 June 1959 until the expiration of his term on 19 August 1963. Captain Stewart was a master mason in Lodge Livingston St. Andrews.no. 573. He was also an avid hunter.
Sir Robert King Stewart and his son, Captain John Christie Stewart each served as Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
The Stewarts were related to the famous Victorian lady traveller and author, Miss Isabella (Ella) Robertson Christie (b. 1861, d. 1949), sister of Lady Alice Margaret Christie Stewart (b. about 1863, d. September 1940), and to the family of John Hill of Homestead Plantation, West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, whose mother, Isabella Christie (sister to Alexander Christie of Milnwood, Lanarkshire), married George Hill (b. 1785, d. 1852) of Old Monkland, Lanarkshire, where he had an ironworks.
Lady Stewart and her sister, Miss Ella Christie, published a reminiscence of their lives entitled A Long Look at Life, by Two Victorians in 1940.
Mrs Averil Stewart published a book of poetry, Mercury in the Garden, in 1946. Mrs. Stewart also wrote a memoir of her mother-in-law, Lady Alice Christie King Stewart, and the sister of the mother-in-law, Miss Ella Christie, entitled Alicella, which was published in 1955 by John Murray of London.
The Stewarts remodeled Murdostoun Castle into a very comfortable residence. They were fond of their dogs and created a pet cemetery in which their dogs were buried.
Mrs. Averil Stewart died in April 1975 and Captain John Stewart died in May 1978. They are interred in a family mausoleum in Cambusnethan Church cemetery in Cambusnethan, a large suburb on the eastern side of Wishaw.
Captain and Mrs. Stewart had no children. After their deaths, the Murdostoun estate passed to a nephew and the property was sold in 1979.
The National Library of Scotland has an inventory of family papers from Murdostoun Castle, which are stored in boxes at the library.
Read more about this topic: Murdostoun, The Stewarts, 1850-1979, Murdostoun Under The Stewarts
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