John D. Stewart (writer) explained

John D. Stewart
Birth Date:1917
Birth Place:Belfast, Northern Ireland
Death Date:1988
Education:Queen's University Belfast
Occupation:Writer, playwright, activist, engineer
Organization:Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
The Honest Ulsterman; Northern Ireland Labour Party; Belfast Humanist Group

John D. Stewart (1917[1] -1988)[2] [3] was a Northern Irish[4] poet, playwright, journalist,[5] civil engineer, and civil rights activist.[6] Stewart was a founding member of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association,[7] as well as a prominent humanist.[8] [9]

Early life

John David Stewart was born in Belfast in 1917, one of two sons and three daughters born to presbyterian minister David Stewart and Eva Thorpe.[10] David Stewart was a minister in Cregagh, east Belfast, as well as a founding member and joint secretary of the Presbyterian Historical Society.

Stewart studied engineering at Queen's University Belfast.[11]

Career

During the 1940s, John D. Stewart was Chief Engineer to the Northern Ireland Housing Trust.[12] By the 1950s, Stewart was described as being a 'well-known Irish writer'.[13] [14] He was commissioned to write Danger, Men Working for an Arts Festival in Northern Ireland in 1951.[15] This was described in The Stage as a play which "poses, and tries to answer, two important questions of the day. What makes men work? What is worth working for? The characters a group of craftsmen and labourers engaged in building a new hospital in Northern Ireland at the present time."[16] In 1955, he worn first prize and 100 guineas for his play The Black Lamb, in a BBC Northern Ireland play competition.[17] In 1959, the Daily Mirror called his Worm in the Bud "an unusual play with a strangely moving ending",[18] and The Stage "a perfect example of writing overcoming a weak plot".[19] Stewart also created programmes for children, including about Spain and his life abroad, broadcast on Children's Hour.[20]

For ten years, Stewart lived and worked in Gibraltar as a civil engineer.[21] [22] During his time there, Stewart also worked as a journalist and critic on the Gibraltar Chronicle, and was a member of the management committee of the Garrison Library. He subsequently published an account of Gibraltar entitled Gibraltar: The Keystone.

Stewart returned to Belfast in the late 1960s, and acted as an expert witness in legal cases involving traffic accidents.[23] He was involved with the Northern Ireland Labour Party, and described as 'a genuine socialist'.[24]

He had a programme on BBC Radio called The Arts in Ulster.[25] Stewart was a contributor to the Northern Irish literary magazine The Honest Ulsterman, alongside writers including Stevie Smith, John Hewitt, Gavin Ewart, and Roger McGough.[26]

Stewart wrote a number of scripts for programmes produced by his friend, writer and broadcaster, Sam Hanna Bell. Bell wrote:

Above all I consider my job is being properly fulfilled when I am successful in encouraging Ulster men and women to write for their region. I have produced the work of almost every Ulster writer of note, and the earliest radio scripts of John D. Stewart, Roy McFadden, John O’Connor, Nesca Robb, Norman Harrison and Sam Thompson were feature programmes.
In 1972, Stewart was the subject of a painting by T.P. Flanagan, commissioned by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.[27]

In 1989, after his death, Stewart's Tartuffe Today (an adaptation of Molière's Tartuffe) was performed at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.[28]

Bibliography

References

  1. Web site: Internet Archive Search: creator:"Stewart, John D. (John David), 1917-" . 2022-06-28 . archive.org . en.
  2. Web site: Stewart, John D. (d. 1988) RASCAL . 2022-06-28 . www.rascal.ac.uk.
  3. Web site: Lunney . Linde . 2009 . Stewart, David . Dictionary of Irish Biography.
  4. Web site: Archives . RTÉ . 2012-07-05 . RTÉ Archives . 2022-06-28 . stillslibrary.rte.ie . en.
  5. Web site: John D. Stewart, writer and journalist. Pictured at Queen's University Belfast . 2022-06-28 . www.digitalcommonwealth.org . en.
  6. Web site: John D Steward Belfast N Ireland journalist author & civil rights activist December 1970 Images4media . 2022-06-28 . www.images4media.com.
  7. News: 17 February 1970 . John D. Stewart replies to charges against Civil Rights conference . 6 . Belfast Telegraph .
  8. Web site: Humanist Heritage: First Conference of Humanists in Ireland . 2022-06-28 . Humanist Heritage . en.
  9. Web site: Humanist Heritage: The Honest Ulsterman No. 1 . 2023-11-10 . Humanist Heritage . en.
  10. News: 29 March 1940 . Easter Wedding: Mr. J. Haworth and Miss S. Stewart . 5 . Northern Whig .
  11. News: 30 September 1970 . QUB Chancellor: New move to change voting . 5 . Belfast Telegraph .
  12. News: 24 August 1946 . Radio Feature . 6 . Weekly Irish Times .
  13. News: 3 September 1959 . News in a Flash . 11 . The Stage .
  14. News: 29 March 1947 . Story by John D. Stewart . 3 . Portadown News .
  15. News: 23 March 1951 . Irish Company . 3 . Kensington News and West London Times .
  16. News: 29 March 1951 . Irish Plays . 8 . The Stage .
  17. News: 6 December 1955 . Prize-winning Belfast playwright now reports bull-fights . 7 . Weekly Irish Times .
  18. News: 28 September 1959 . Last Night's TV . 18 . Daily Mirror .
  19. News: 1 October 1959 . In Vision . 16 . The Stage .
  20. News: 7 February 1958 . 'Murder Mystery' . 3 . Lisburn Standard .
  21. Book: Stewart, John D. (John David) . Gibraltar; the keystone . 1967 . Boston, Houghton Mifflin . Internet Archive.
  22. Book: The Children's Newspaper [1960 09 17]].
  23. Book: Seán McMahon . Sam Hanna Bell . 1999 . Blackstaff Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-85640-665-2.
  24. News: 12 June 1969 . Nationalist denial of 'sectarian' charge . 5 . Belfast Telegraph .
  25. Book: Clark, Heather L. . The Ulster renaissance : poetry in Belfast, 1962-1972 . 2006 . Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-19-928731-4.
  26. Web site: Humanist Heritage: The Honest Ulsterman No. 1 . 2023-11-10 . Humanist Heritage . en.
  27. Book: Catto . Mike . Art in Ulster 2 : a history of painting, sculpture and printmaking, 1957-1977 . Snoddy . Theo . 1977 . Belfast : Blackstaff Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-85640-129-9.
  28. News: 31 August 1989 . Irish duo kick off season . 1 . The Stage .
  29. Web site: John D. Stewart . 2022-06-28 . BFI . en.
  30. Web site: Stewart . John D. . 1959-08-01 . Vulture Country . 2022-06-28 . The Atlantic . en.
  31. Web site: Stewart . John D. . 1960-07-01 . Border Incident . 2022-06-28 . The Atlantic . en.
  32. Web site: Stewart . John D. . 1961-03-01 . A Sparrow Falls . 2022-06-28 . The Atlantic . en.
  33. Book: Stewart, John D . Gilbraltar: the keystone . 1967 . Murray . London . English . 956321.
  34. News: 23 November 1967 . Ulster may make their own serial . 11 . The Stage .

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