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, Richard's 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 1843 Official Directory (on the right):

Richard is still a second-class clerk in the War Office, but second from top in the list.
Second from bottom in the list of second-class clerks is Richards step-brother-in-law Henry Runciman Drewry.
Richard also appears to have a second post as Private Secretary to the Deputy Secretary at War.

The Secretary at War is Sir Henry Hardinge.
Is it possible that Sir Henry Hardinge is related to Richard Hardinge, Captain of the Kent, a ship on which Cosmas Henry Stewart served as Purser between 1785 and 1794?
Sir Henry Hardinge (soon to become Viscount Hardinge) did have an uncle, Sir Richard Hardinge. However, I have found no evidence to suggest that Sir Richard Hardinge could have been captain of the Kent

In the 1851 Census at 28 Adelaide Road, Hampstead.

Richard H Stewart	Head	Wid	57	Ist Class Clerk in the War Office	b. Holborn, Middlesex
Ann Shaw	Sister	Unm	45		b. Holborn, Middlesex
Mary Ann Rosling	Servant	Unm	26		b. Doddington, Cambridgeshire

In the 1851 Census, Richard's daughters, Catherine and Amelia Stewart, are 'Visitors' inthe household of Hannah Brook, 'Gentlewoman Annuitant', in Mirfield, Yorkshire.

In 1852, as in the 1851 census, Richard is a First-Class Clerk

Richard is also listed as Private Secretary to the Deputy Secretary at War.

Henry Runciman Drewry has moved up the list of second-class clerks.
(In 1855, rather surprisingly, Henry Runciman Drewry is promoted Chief Clerk in the War Office.)

In 1861 in Bulletins and Other State Intelligence

"The undermentioned Purveyor's Clerks of the First Class to be Deputy Purveyors under the Royal Warrant of the 24th December 1860.
Richard Hardinge Stewart; Dated 22nd February 1861"

In the 1861 Census at Rosehill, Dorking.

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

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

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

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