Alexander Stuart, known as ‘Alec’ or ‘Alex’ was born in Marnoch, Banffshire, Scotland, on the 9th March 1872, the son of Alexander and Janet “Jessie” Stuart (née McHattie). The family home was at Upper Culvie, Marnoch, where his father was a farmer.
In or about 1895, Alexander immigrated to the United States of America, settling in Waterbury, Connecticut, where he was involved in the construction industry. He began the process of becoming a naturalised U.S. citizen, but is not known whether or not he completed the procedure.
What is known is that he left the United States of America after a few years and joined other family members in South Africa. His brothers, John and Robert, and two of sisters had settled in Germiston, East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa, where one of his sisters had married a Dr. Spaulding, and his brother, John, was a town councillor.
Alec Stuart went into partnership with a Mr. Henry Grattan and formed a building and construction company. He involved himself in all aspects of life in Germiston and was known as a generous supporter of many sports clubs, most notably Germiston Rugby Club, rugby being his favourite sport.
On the outbreak of the Boer War, he joined the Railway Pioneer Regiment, rising to the rank of captain. His skills as a builder proved invaluable in repairing bridges destroyed by the Boers, and when the British eventually gained control of the Rand, Capt. Stuart, as he was then, was appointed the military commander for the Germiston district. As soon as peace was restored, he returned to his business interests, gaining many lucrative contracts.
In late 1901, Alec Stuart married a widow, Petronella Wilhelmina Gravett (née Oosthuysen or Oosthuizen). She had five children from her first marriage to Gerhardus Gravett, a prominent Boer farmer and cartage contractor in Germiston, who had died of wounds received in action while serving as a Boer General in late 1900.
In 1912, Alec Stuart built a hotel in Germiston, at a cost of £40,000, which became the family residence, and which he and his wife managed. This hotel, the Alexander Hotel, still survives with its original name today and is listed as one of the most prominent and historic buildings in the city.
As well as being a builder and hotelier, he also had a successful cartage business, and his next venture was to construct an iron foundry. With this in mind, in late 1914 or early 1915, he travelled to Great Britain to source and purchase the equipment he required to fit out his iron foundry.
On the 11th April 1915, he boarded the S.S. Tuscania in Liverpool with his stepson, Jerry Gravett, who was a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, and on the 20th April they disembarked at New York. They travelled to Waterbury, Connecticut, where they stayed in the Elton Hotel, and it is thought that the purpose of their trip was so that Alec would purchase additional equipment for his planned iron foundry.
Within a week or so, his business having concluded, they returned to New York to travel back to Scotland to visit Alec’s remaining family in Banffshire before he planned to return to South Africa. Alec had booked passage for both himself and his stepson as saloon passengers on the Anchor Lines ship, Cameronia, travelling to Glasgow. The British Admiralty had requisitioned the Cameronia for use as a troop ship at the end of April and all her passengers and cargo and some of her crew were transferred instead to the Lusitania. Shortly before departure, Jerry Gravett decided to remain in New York, thus, on the morning of 1st May, Alec joined the Lusitania as a saloon passenger at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour. Once on board, (with ticket number 13433) he was escorted to room E55, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Vincent Settle who came from Anfield, a suburb of Liverpool.
The Lusitania actually left port at 12.27pm after her delayed start and then, after a fairly uneventful voyage, six days out of New York she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 twelve miles off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland. At that time, she was only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
One of those killed as a result of this torpedoing was Alexander Stuart. He was aged 43 years.
On 21st May 1915, a letter was received in Cunard’s office in Queenstown from New York, which gave information about Alexander Stuart. It stated: -
Tall, dark hair, blue eyes, weighed about 200 lbs. married wife in Genniston (sic.) So. Africa. Above information received from Miss C.E. Henry 43 E. Liberty Street. Conn.
From information received from Messrs Wall + Sinclair 348 West 27th Street New York, Mr. Stuart has a step son no name mentioned, at the University of Edinburgh who expected to meet him on his arrival; he also
has a sister at Portsoy Banffshire Scotland.
This information failed to help discover or identify his body, and as a result, he has no known grave.
On hearing of the sinking, Jerry Gravett immediately travelled from New York to Ireland in a vain search for his stepfather. He gave up his medical studies and joined the South African Scottish regiment, and served as a dispatch rider on the Western Front. He was wounded, and on his recovery, he joined the Royal Field Artillery where he rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant. He returned to South Africa, having survived the War.
Bedroom Steward Vincent Settle, who had looked after Alexander Stuart in room E55 did survive the sinking, however and eventually made it back to his Anfield home.
Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1564 – 1950, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Aberdeen Daily Journal, New York Times, Rand Daily Mail, Waterbury Fact Book, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/163, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Peter Wood, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.