Bill Stewart (rugby union)

The Dundee Courier of 28 December 1912 noted that:[11]

Stewart is new to international [rugby union] football. He is Tasmanian with good Scottish credentials, and is the holder of the 100 and 220 Scottish amateur athletic championships.

Stewart was a Scottish champion sprinter. From The Scottish Referee newspaper of Monday 20 January 1913:[3]

There seems good reason to fancy that the Rugby Union Selectors have unearthed in W. A. Stewart, the Scottish champion sprinter, a gem of the first water, and anticipating their selection, we should say that he will be included in every International match of the season. At the beginning of this season he was reckoned a player only value for his place in the second team of the London Scottish, but a man possessed of such outstanding merit was bound to come to the front, and, like a name: of his he has jumped right from the junior Scottish side to Internationalist, and, let us say, one of the best of modern times. Stewart is one of the grandest players we have had in Scotland for a long time, and there seems every reason to hope that he will be able to assist his country, both in the Rugby and athletic fields for many a year.

And from the same newspaper of Monday 17 March 1913:[12]

W. A STEWART, London Hospital F.C, Although Scotland has had a few lean seasons recently, events point to the Thistle occupying a much more important position in the Rugby world in the near future. It is now six seasons since Scotland won the International Championship, and at one time there mere hopes that this season she would occupy that proud position, but those hopes were rudely shattered, not through the inability of the men to play the game, but through accidents, which deprived us of the services of many fine players. The trials disclosed many men capable of great things, and one of them was W. A. Stewart., who has now had the honour of representing Scotland in a dual capacity. When it is considered that Stewart was only playing second-rate football a year ago, his advance has been phenomenal, and although yet he is not a football artist, there are indications that he will be one of the greatest finds Scotland has had in recent years. Against Wales he did not get a chance —none of the backs did ; but against Ireland it was his resolute - running that won the day. Unfortunately for Scotland, he was unable to turn out against England, when a runner a yard or two faster than Sutherland might have rounded Coates. In his other capacity he has proved of yeoman service. In 1911 he won the 100 yards S.A.A. championship, and the following year enhanced his reputation by carrying off both the 100 and 220 yards, depriving R. C. Duncan of both honours. He has accomplished a number of splendid performances representing the United Hospitals, and in the South is regarded as one of the best of British amateur sprinters. Stewart is certain to represent Scotland in many more representative games.

He was a medical student attached to London Hospital.[8]

In the First World War he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. The Edinburgh Evening News of 16 June 1915 noted that he returned from the front, injured after being shot in the ankle:[13]

Lieutenant W. A. Stewart, of the R.A.M.C., the Scottish sprint champion and Rugby international, who was wounded in the ankle in Festubert, is home from the front.

His father was William Robert Stewart (1852-1939), and his mother was Alexandra Louise Button (1863-1954). Both were born in Tasmania, which somewhat belies the Scottish Referee assertion of Scottish parentage. However, there were Scottish familial roots. William Robert Stewart's father [and hence Bill Stewart's grandfather], Dr. William Robert Stewart (died 1874), was Scottish and was a member of the Scottish Kirk in Evandale, Tasmania.[14]

Bill Stewart was the only son of William and Alexandra's 4 children.