Gilbert Stuart (writer)

Gilbert Stuart (1742–1786) was a Scottish journalist and historian.

He was born in Edinburgh, the only surviving son of George Stuart (died 1793), professor of the Latin language and Roman antiquities in Edinburgh University. He was educated at the grammar school and university of Edinburgh in classics and philosophy, and then studied jurisprudence there; but never followed the law as profession.

In 1768 Stuart went to London, hoping for preferment through Lord Mansfield. In 1769 he lodged with Thomas Somerville in the house of Murdoch the bookseller, writing for the newspapers and reviews. He worked for the Monthly Review from 1768 to 1773. By June 1773 Stuart was back with his father at Musselburgh, working to launch the Edinburgh Magazine and Review. The first number came out about the middle of October 1773, and it was discontinued after the publication of the number for August 1776. In the end, an article by Stuart and Alexander Gillies, written over the protests of William Smellie, attacked Lord Monboddo's Origin and Progress of Language over several numbers. The magazine was stopped.

About 1779 Stuart was an unsuccessful candidate for the professorship of public law in the university of Edinburgh, and he believed that William Robertson was responsible for his failure. Stuart never forgave Robertson. In 1785 William Robertson, eldest son of the historian, fought a duel with Stuart, which both survived.

In 1782 Stuart settled once more in London, and went back to reviewing. The English Review was established by John Murray I in January 1783, and Stuart was one of the principal writers on its staff. During 1785–6 he edited, with William Thomson (1746–1817), twelve numbers of The Political Herald and Review. It opened with a criticism of Pitt's administration, which was still not finished in the final number, and dealt out severe addresses to Henry Dundas and several other Pittites. These diatribes may have prompted the suggestion that Stuart was Junius.

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