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George Hume Steuart, (1700–1784) was a Scottish physician, 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, and serving two terms as mayor of Annapolis. 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.American Swedish 1973, Edited by Leif Sjoberg, at p.69 Retrieved 15 January 2010
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: "[Maryland houses] are large and spacious habitations, widely separated, composed of a number of buildings and surrounded by plantations extending farther than the eye can reach, cultivated...by unhappy black men whom European avarice brings hither...Their furniture is of the most costly wood, and rarest marbles, enriched by skilful and artistic work. Their elegant and light carriages are drawn by finely bred horses, and driven by richly apparelled slaves."
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.Eby, Jerrilynn, p.76, Laying the Hoe: a Century of Iron Manufacturing in Stafford County, Virginia, Vol 1, Heritage Books (2007). Retrieved 19 January 2010 The boy was provided with a tutor, the Italian Onorio Razzolini, and lived at Steuart's "old-fashioned house" on Francis St in Annapolis.