Peter Stuart 1788 - 1888

Peter Stuart junior 1788? - 1888, known as the the “Ditton Doctor”, a Liverpool shipowner, and merchant, laid the foundation for a vast Imperial trade for the British Empire, and as a lay homeopath, he devoted one afternoon a week for forty years to dispense homeopathic medication to the poor. It is estimated that during his lifetime he prescribed for some 300,000 to 350,000 people (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Page 83).

Peter Stuart founded the firm Stuart and Douglas on the Brass River in West Africa, and he banished the slave trade from that region - ‘… he was proud of the fact that he never made a cent out of the slave trade… ’ (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Page 14),

Peter Stuart was a friend of John Bellamy, John Epps, Giuseppe Garibaldi, George Jacob Holyoake, Lajos Kossuth, William James Linton, Edwin Longsden Long, Giuseppe Mazzini, Felice Orsini Thomas Simpson, James John Garth Wilkinson and many others, and he corresponded directly with Samuel Hahnemann, and Clemens Maria Franz Baron von Boenninghausen. Peter Stuart was also fascinated by phrenology, and he chose his employees based on this discipline.

Peter Stuart senior joined the British Navy and served under Horatio Nelson and fought at the Battle of Trafalgar. Back in Liverpool after this decisive battle, he trained as a cooper, spending his free time in study. His son Peter Stuart junior took up the cause of Italian unification, the abolition of slavery, and the abolition of the Corn Laws. Peter Stuart met Peter Douglas and together they founded the firm of Stuart and Douglas on the Brass River in West Africa, where they banished the slave trade from that region.

Peter Stuart had been a friend of John Epps since 1843, when they were both involved in the campaign around the Corn Laws. Though Peter Stuart had been corresponding directly with Samuel Hahnemann since the early 1830s, and with whom he was on intimate and friendly terms (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Pages 106-114), it would be John Epps who taught Peter Stuart the practice of homeopathy, and who would become the homeopathic practitioner of his sister. ’… Dear Friend Peter, I did not send the address that you wrote for, first, I have literally not had the time to write one, and second, I felt that the Dissenters were roused…’ From John Epps at 89 Great Russell Street, 5th April 1843. (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Pages 80-81).

Peter Stuart was on the Management Committee of the English Homeopathic Association in 1849, alongside William Henry Ashurst, John Burnett, Edward Cronin, Paul Francois Curie, A O Deacon, Robert S Dick, George Napoleon Epps, John Epps, Robert Frith, Joseph Glover, Robert Grosvenor, George Hayes, Thomas H Johnstone, Henry Kelsall, John Miller, William MacOubrey, Henry P Osman, Charles Thomas Pearce, William Perkins, George K Prince, James Stansfeld, Allan Templeton, James Thomson, William Warne, James Wilson,

In 1849, the English Homeopathic Association petitioned Parliament in defense of Charles Thomas Pearce, about the outrage of such false accusations, especially as there was no redress in law for the damage done to the defendant. The petition was seconded by John Epps, in the company of William Henry Ashurst, John Burnett, Edward Cronin, Paul Francois Curie, A O Deacon, Robert S Dick, George Napoleon Epps, Robert Frith, Joseph Glover, Robert Grosvenor, George Hayes, Thomas H Johnstone, Henry Kelsall, John Miller, Henry P Osman,, William MacOubrey, Charles Thomas Pearce, William Perkins, George K Prince, James Stansfeld, Peter Stuart, Allan Templeton, James Thomson, William Warne, and James Wilson.

Peter Stuart was a profound and generous Patron of homeopathy, and he also procured many homeopathic relics, which his sons Mazzini and Orsini Stuart donated to the Hahnemann House Museum in Powis Place, beside the London Homeopathic Hospital. The nephew of Giuseppe Mazzini’s godson Joseph Mazzini was named Milton Stuart (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Page 33 - and from Page 85 (Quote is from The Homeopathic World April 1st 1905) ‘…Through the kindness of the family of the late Mr. Peter Stuart, of Liverpool, and William Leaf, of London, the cause of Homeopathy in this country owes more than the the country is ever likely to know. On the death of Melanie Hahnemann, Mr. Peter Stuart, with most laudable hero worship, secured a number of Hahnemann relics, and among the number the documents we now reproduce…’

Peter Stuart also took a close interest in European politics, supporting Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini in every way possible, and involving himself in their campaigns for Italian Unification from the very beginning and lasting well after Unification was achieved. (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Multiple pages),

Peter Stuart first met William James Linton in 1849 (William James Linton,* Memories, *(Lawrence and Bullen, London, 1895). Page 189), when he stepped forward (L Finigan, *The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], *(for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Page 23) to support William James Linton and Giuseppe Mazzini‘s efforts to protect an unfortunate boat load of Polish refugees who had just docked in Liverpool. Peter Stuart found them accommodation in a disused soap factory, and supplied them with money and food, and the local population brought them water and straw to sleep on. It would be through Peter Stuart that William James Linton would meet John Epps and James John Garth Wilkinson.

Peter Stuart attended (Anon, The Homeopathic World, Volume 43, (1908). Page 236) the 2nd International Homeopathic Congress held in London (Anon, The Medical Counselor, Volume 7, (The Michigan State Homeopathic Society, 1883). Page 347) in on 11th-18th July 1881 (Anon, The Homeopathic World, (August 1,1881)) at Aberdeen House, Argyll Street, Regent Street.

Peter Stuart’s son Mazzini Stuart wrote an extensive biography of his father, reproduced on the website of Homeopathe International by Francis Treuherz and Sylvain Cazalet.

Of interest:

The Lung Disease of Cattle; or pleuro pneumonia cured by homeopathy, Henry Turner 1856 discussed some work done by William Haycock, who first noticed this disease in 1842, George Edward Allshorn, Charles W Luther and John Rush, who also had experience treating this disease. Farmers had been losing thousands of cattle to this disease, Charles W Luther estimated that 6 out of every 10 cattle so affected could be cured. Peter Stuart also was using homeopathy at this time and treated up to 180 cows with this disease, saving about 130 of them. George Edward Allshorn used aconite and bryonia and estimated he had saved 17 out of every 20 cows he treated.

Peter Stuart was the father of Bellamy Stuart, Cromwell Stuart, Hahnemann Stuart, Mazzini Stuart, Milton Stuart, Orsini Stuart, Peter Stuart, Rachel Stuart, and Selina Stuart.

Mazzini Stuart, son of Peter Stuart ? - 1888, was also a keen advocate of homeopathy:

… was a keen homœopathist, and, in conjunction with his brother Orsini, is the donor of the freehold property known as Hahnemann House, which adjoins the London Homeopathic Hospital. In making a gift of Hahnemann House his idea was to provide an Hahnemann Museum, which would become a centre of interest to all Homeopathic doctors. He has also contributed a number of Hahnemannian relics, which form the basis of a permanent collection.

Orsini Stuart, son of Peter Stuart ? - 1888, was a keen advocate of homeopathy, and he was on the Committee of the Liverpool Hahnemann Hospital. Orsini Stuart was a Mason, a member of Lodge 2316 (L Finigan, The Life of Peter Stuart, the “Ditton Doctor”. [With Plates, Including Portraits and Facsimiles], (for family circulation 2nd edition, published by Books Limited, 187 Fleet Street London EC4 (Clifford’s Inn Passage), 1920, and by Liverpool and Prescot 1921). Page 65).

Peter Stuart ? - 1917 MD was a son of Peter Stuart ? - 1888, who practiced as a pure Hahnemannian homeopath,