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James Stuart (educator)

British educator and politician (1843-1913)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ6143811 ↗
Source-derived summary

James Stuart PC (2 January 1843 – 12 October 1913) was a British educator and politician.

Early life and background

He was born on 2 January 1843, in Fifeshire at Markinch, the eldest son of the textile industrialist Joseph Gordon Stuart with a flax mill—Balgonie Works at Milton of Balgonie—and his wife Catharine Booth, daughter of David Booth. He was the uncle of Josephine Gordon Stuart.

Balgonie Mill

The Balgonie Mill on the River Leven was founded c.1800, and extended in 1807. It produced yarn that was sent to Dundee, the main products being canvas and sacking.

Joseph Gordon Stuart (1815–1866) was the son of Alexander Stuart WS, and his wife Mary McKnight, and elder brother of Alexander Stuart and Edward Craig Stuart. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, took an arts degree at the University of Aberdeen and a law degree at the University of Edinburgh. After a time as barrister he became a flax spinner. The original mill owner William Drummond took into partnership his son-in-law Robert Baxter, and when Drummond retired, Stuart, related to him, became a partner.

Stuart took over the mill when Baxter emigrated to France, in the early 1840s.

Editorial summary

“James Stuart (educator)” enters the record as british educator and politician (1843-1913). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what James, Stuart and educator can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1843, 1913, 1800, 1807—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1843-01-02, 1843-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around James, Stuart and educator.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“James Stuart (educator)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, James, Stuart and educator provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6143811. VIAF identifies the subject as 22917081. The Library of Congress control number is no2019129790. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1843, 1913, 1800 and 1807.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “James Stuart (educator)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow James Stuart (educator) primary sources, James Stuart (educator) archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “James Stuart (educator)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.