STUART, DONALD McNAUGHTON (1819-94) was born in a small hamlet on the banks of the Tay. At the parish school at Kenmore he was under a university man named Armstrong, who taught him Gaelic, English, Latin, Greek, and mathematics, a solid grounding for the ambitious village boy. He was a great reader, and did not fail to profit in his education when he was appointed to read for an old couple who took in the Scotsman at the expense of a son who had prospered in England. By teaching, and by acting as local correspondent of the Fife Herald, Stuart earned money to take him to college. Two summers he spent in England to improve his speed. In 1837 he purchased the goodwill of the 'adventure' school in Leven, Fifeshire. Starting with one scholar at threepence a week, he did so well that in two years he was able to go to St Andrew's University. There by means of a bursary and slight financial help from home he maintained himself for four years as an undergraduate, and clubbed with others to purchase the Edinburgh Witness.

As he drew near the end of his University career Stuart encountered a setback. Taking umbrage at the activity of some students in securing the election of Thomas Chalmers as rector in opposition to their own candidate, the senate expelled Stuart from the University (to which he was eventually restored by a royal commission). Stuart went afterwards to New College, Edinburgh, to study theology under Chalmers. In 1844 he took a position as class master in a good school near Windsor, where he shortly became principal. While there he carried on his theological studies in London under Drs Lorimer, McCrie, and Hamilton, and completed them at Edinburgh. He was licensed to preach by the Free Church presbytery of Kelso, and shortly after received a call to the parish of Falstone, in North Tyne, near the border of Scotland, where he remained for 10 years.

In 1858 the opportunity arose which brought the young divine to Otago. A second Presbyterian church having been established in Dunedin (known as Knox Church), a commission consisting of Dr Bonar, Dr Guthrie, and Professor Miller (of Edinburgh University) was set up to select a man for the charge. 'A pious, energetic, and godly man,' said the order of reference, 'one who would take a particular interest in securing the hearts of young men for the public good, and who would visit and allure people to church-going habits.' Guthrie had met Stuart while he was ministering to his parish in Northumberland, and chiefly on his recommendation the commission chose him. In Jan 1860 Stuart, with his wife and children, landed in Dunedin from the ship Bosworth. Burns, in a spirit of helpful generosity, went away to Invercargill and left the pulpit at First Church to be occupied for seven weeks by the new minister, in order to permit him to influence as many as he could to join the new congregation. In May Stuart was inducted to his charge, and he entered on his duties with energetic cheerfulness. He remained there for the rest of his life, steadily strengthening his parish and widening his influence in the congregation and the community. In the pulpit and out, his utterances were marked by breadth of view and simplicity and homeliness of expression.

Stuart's activities extended far beyond the narrow limits of the church. He was keenly interested in all phases of education. He was a strong advocate of the establishment of a divinity hall in connection with the Presbyterian synod, and in the first year of its existence he was tutor in church history. The whole of the salary he received for that post he devoted to the foundation of two annual prizes. In 1875 he was a member of the board of advice to recommend reforms in connection with the Boys' High School. Two years later a board of governors was established to control both the Boys' and the Girls' Schools, and he was one of its members. He was chairman until his death. He was an original member of the council of Otago University. In 1871, 1874 and 1877 he was vice-chancellor, and he was chancellor from 1879 until his death. Though he was never reconciled to the surrender by Otago University of its power of conferring degrees, he became a member of the senate of the University of New Zealand in 1873, and remained so until 1881. Stuart always considered it a grave defect in the education act of New Zealand (1877) that it excluded the study of the Bible from the public schools, and both on the platform and in the pulpit he spoke vigorously as a leading member of the Bible in Schools' league. He was a strong supporter of the Patients and Prisoners' Aid society, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of the Benevolent institution, and the Industrial school.

In 1872 the University of St Andrews conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity, a pleasing recognition of his services by the alma mater which 30 years earlier had expelled him on a point of conscience. In 1888, while on a six months' visit to Great Britain for the benefit of his health, he was elected moderator of the synod. In the following year the Rev A. P. Davidson was appointed co-pastor to assist in the work of the parish, and Stuart commenced to take a less strenuous part in public and church affairs. He died on 12 May 1894. His wife (Jessie Robertson, whom he married at Slough in 1850) died in 1862.

Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Hocken; Ross; McIndoe; Herrington; Chisholm; Thompson; Otago Daily Times, 13 May 1894, 17 Jan 1930 (p); 12 May 1930.

Reference: Volume 2, page 176

🌳 Further sources