Life History

1793	Born in St. Andrew Holborn.
22nd May 1826	Married Caroline Buschman in St Pancras.
August 1833	Death of Caroline Buschman in St Pancras.
1872	Died in Hambledon.

Notes

The record of Richard's Christening in May, 1973, at St Andrew’s Holborn.

In IGI: Richard Hardinge Stewart - Christening: 29 May 1793, Saint Andrew, Holborn, London;
Father: Cosmas Henry Stewart; Mother: Catherine.
(On the 7th July 1793, Richards father, Cosmas, sailed for Bengal.)

The marriage of Richard and Caroline is witnessed by:

T J Buschman, and
Maria E. Buschman.

Watson's, Or, The Gentleman's and Citizen's Almanack by John Watson Stewart - Almanacs, Irish - 1827
Page 97 mentions: "Sec. to the Deputy Secretary at War, R. Hardinge Stewart, efq. Law Clerk."

'The Treble almanack' in 1832 has Richard in the war office as a clerk, second class.

In the 1841 Census, at 2 Blandford Place:

Richard Harding Stewart, 48, Clerk in the War Office
Richard Stewart, 13
Catherine Moody Stewart, 12
Amelia Stewart, 10
Caroline Ann Stewart, 7
Ann Shaw, 35, Indep.
and 2 servants.

In the 1851 Census
at 28 Adelaide Road, Hampstead

Richard Harding Stewart is shown as a widower, Ist Class Clerk in the War Office. The family had a servant.

Interestingly, in the 1851 census, the housesold includes Ann Shaw (unmarried), born in Holborn in 1806, as Richard's 'sister'.

In the 1861 Census at Rosehill, Dorking.

still living with Ann Shaw, again described as 'sister'.

Stewart, Richard H	Head	Widower	67	War Office Super In List	London, Middlesex
Stewart, Catherine M	Daughter	Unm.	32		St Pancras, Middlesex
Stewart, Amelia	Daughter	Unm.	30		St Pancras, Middlesex
Stewart, Caroline Ann	Daughter	Unm.	27		St Pancras, Middlesex
Shaw, Ann	Sister	Unm.	55	Proprietor Of Houses	London, Middlesex
Herring, Mary	Servant	Unm.	31	House Servant	Ayr, Lincolnshire
Chamber, Charlotte	Servant	Unm.	20	House Servant	Dorking, Surrey

In the 1871 Census at Cranley House, in Cranley, Surrey.

Stewart, Richard H	Head	Widr	77	Superannuated Clerk War Office (and Landowner 6 Acres)	London
Stewart, Catherine M	Daughter	Unm.	42		St. Pancras, Middlesex
Stewart, Amelia	Daughter	Unm.	40		St. Pancras, Middlesex
Stewart, Caroline A	Daughter	Unm.	37		St. Pancras, Middlesex
Shaw, Ann	Sister	Unm.	65	Proprietor of Houses	St. Pancras, Middlesex
Ludgate, Harriet	Servant	Unm.	25	Cook - Domestic Serv.	London
Gammon, Charlotte	Servant	Unm.	21	House & Parlour Maid	Cranley, Surrey

Probate

Copy of original Probate

Supplementary Probate

This probate was raised in 1918, the year in which Catherine Moody, the original executor, died.
Is James Alphonse Hardinge Stewart a grandson?

Richard Harding Stewart's Will

The main points:

£200 to "my son Richard Hardinge Stewart".
£1,000 to "my sister Ann Shaw". (about £100,000 in today's money)
Remainder to be shared between 3 surviving daughters:
Catherine Moody Stewart
Amelia Stewart
Caroline Stewart

Copy of Original Will - page 1
Copy of Original Will - page 2

Google Searches

In the 'The Letters of the Third Viscount Palmerston to Laurence and Elizabeth', Page 204, [18 Dec 1827] "R. Hardinge Stewart was ..."

In 'The Royal Kalendar, and Court and City Register for England, Scotland ... Almanacs, British - 1831', Page 212: "R. Hardinge Stewart, esq. Law-Clerk"

In 'The United Service Magazine', 1861, 'War Office' Promotions and Appointments': "to Purveyors Department - Richard Hardinge Stewart".

Ann Shaw

Ann Shaw, in the Probate near the end of this page, is the Aunt of Catherine Moody Stewart.
The censuses record her as Richard Harding Stewart's sister, and she lived with the family of Richard Harding Steart from at least 1841 until her death in 1877.

Ann appears to be an illegitimate daughter of Cosmas Henry Stewart, one of three children conceived with Ann Shaw (in the years following his son's death, and while his wife Catherine Moody was still alive).
Cosmas did not mention his daughter Ann Shaw (or her brother) in his will, but this may be because she was living with her mother, and possibly not known to his wife.

The following images are from the Baptism records at St George's Bloomsbury, Camden:

There is no further record of the Shaw twins shown in the above birth record although Henry is mentioned in the will of an Ann Shaw who died in 1833 (the same year that Richard's wife Catherine Moody died - during a cholera epidemic).

In the will, Ann Shaw of 33 Laystall Street, St Andrews, Holborn, leaves £300 (equivalent £15,000 in 2010) to her daughter Ann Shaw, and bequeaths the house and the residue of her estate to her son Henry Shaw. Presumably the other twin Mary has died. At her mother's death, it is likely that Ann Shaw junior, a spinster, moved in with Richard. They had both lost their mothers.

Probate - Ann Shaw (junior)

Ann seems to have prospered and was reasonably well off when she died.

GRO

Death Jun 1872: Stewart, Richard Hardinge, 78, Hambledon, 2a, 69
Death Jun 1877: Shaw, Ann, 71, Hambledon, 2a, 74