Dempster moved to England, appearing in one first-class match for Lindsay Parkinson's XI in 1933 and once for Scotland in 1934.

He settled in England from 1935, being contracted by the Leicestershire millionaire Sir Julien Cahn to play for his private team.

He was selected to play for New Zealand in a one-off Test in Christchurch against England in March 1947, but he withdrew due to an eye injury four days before the match.

Dempster has the distinction of having the second-highest Test batting average in history for completed careers of 10 or more innings, behind Sir Donald Bradman.

A biography titled Second Only to Bradman: The Life of Stewie Dempster was written by Bill Francis and published in 2019.