Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, 5th Baronet

Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, 5th Baronet (10 February 1766 – 3 August 1825). Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire between 1822 and 1825.

Michael Stewart Nicholson of Carnock, succeeded to the lands of Blackhall and Ardgowan on the death of his uncle Sir John Shaw Stewart, in 1812. He was invested in these lands in 1813 and dropped the name of Nicholson and became Sir Michael Shaw Stewart of Ardgowan, 5th Baronet.

In 1787 as Michael Nicholson of Carnock, he had married his cousin Catherine Maxwell, youngest daughter of Sir William Maxwell of Springkell and Margaret Stewart, Michael's aunt. The marriage produced 6 sons and three daughters. The Edinburgh Post Office Directory of 1821 shows him at 14 Queen Street, Edinburgh.^[1]

He was: An officer of the Yeomanry of Renfrewshire, a high office-bearer in the Grand Masonic Lodge of Scotland, and as a keen horseman, Sir Michael was a member of the Royal Caledonian Hunt.^[2] He was elected president of the Hunt for the year of 1822^[3]

On 24 August 1822, during the

Sir Michael contributed to many charities at home, such as the payment of land rental for the Greenock Infirmary; the education of many poor children in Inverkip over a number of years, providing them with books paper, pens and pencils as well as paying most of the Schoolmasters salary. His most important scheme of all was to commission the building of a reservoir to provide the water for Greenock and neighbouring districts. With friends, he set up Shaws Water Joint Stock Company, which was ratified by Parliament in 1825. The engineer responsible for the building of the reservoir was Robert Thom, and the artificial lake, completed in 1827, became Loch Thom. Living only to see the start of his dream he died on 3 August 1825.^[5]

See also

• Shaw Stewart baronets

References