STEWART, Charles. Lisburn, Antrim 1764 — Bath 19.4.1837. British Colonial Officer and Oriental Scholar in India. Son of Captain Poyntz Stewart, in 1781 joined E.I.C.’s army as cadet. Served in Upper India and Rohilkhand. From 1800-06 taught Persian at Fort William College. In 1805 the College sent him to Mysore to catalogue Tipu’s library. Returned to the U.K. in 1806 and became Professor of Oriental Languages (Arabic, Persian and Hindustani) at Haileybury 1807-27. In 1808 retired from army as Major. Twice married, with Amelia Gordon and 1828 Anne Reid (née Holland), no children.
His History Stewart began with Muslim period, but expressed his hope that more information about earlier times will be discovered.
Publications: Edited with Moolvey Hussein: The Anvari Soohyly of Hussein Vaiz Kashify. Calcutta 1804; alone An Introduction to the Anvari Soohyly of Hussein Vāiz Kāshify. 4+29+6+42+32 p. L. 1821 (with text).
– A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental library of the late Tippoo Sultan of Mysore. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of Hyder Ali Khan, and his son Tippoo Sultan. 8+94+364 p. Cambridge 1809.
– Transl. from Persian: Abu Taleb Khan’s Travels in Europe and Asia, edited by his Son, Mirza Hasein Ali. 1-2. L. 1810, 2nd ed. 1814.
– The History of Bengal. From the First Mohammedan Invasion until the virtual conquest of that country by the English, A.D. 1757. 548 p. L. 1813.
– Transl. from Persian: The Mulfuzāt Timūry, or Autobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timūr. 16+154+11 p. L. 1830; The Tezkereh al Vakiāt, or Private Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Humāyūn, by Jouher. 8+127 p. L. 1832.
– An unclear case is An Introduction to the Study of the Hindostany as spoken in the Carnatic. Compiled for the Use of the Company of Gentlemen Cadets on the Madras Establishment at New Town, Cuddalore. 1808, new ed. Madras 1843. According to collections.ed.ac.uk/guardbook/record/99006/1/S71_redux.pdf. the author of the anonymous 1843 ed. is Charles Stewart (1764–1837), Professor at Haileybury
Sources: Buckland, Dictionary; T.E.H[olland], D.N.B. 54, 1898, 276 (with small additions in the Index vol. 1903, 1247), *rev. by P. Loloi, Oxford D.N.B. 2004; Wikipedia (from Holland).
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