John Stuart (explorer)

Stuart is best known as Simon Fraser's lieutenant who participated in his explorations of present-day British Columbia from 1805 to 1808.

As a Jacobite, his grandfather is thought after the Battle of Culloden to have sought refuge under the protection of Clan Grant in Moray, as he was originally from Balquhidder, Perthshire.

[1][incomplete short citation] John's sister, Barbera, was the mother of Lord Strathcona, and it was Stuart who had attained for him his first role in the Hudson's Bay Company.

[2][incomplete short citation] John's brother was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot, but rather than following him, John joined the North West Company in 1796, perhaps under the auspices of Roderick Mackenzie (cousin of Sir Alexander Mackenzie) who had known him as a boy.

According to Father Adrien-Gabriel Morice, a missionary and historian of northern British Columbia, Stuart "seems to have been one of those well-meaning men who, unconscious of their own idiosyncrasies, make life a burden to others".

Royal and Strathcona) was persuaded to come to Canada, where he would play an instrumental role in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.