William Stuart

Born 29th June 1903 at 13 York Street, Footdee, Aberdeen

Died 17th February 1998

The eldest of 5 brothers, he left York Street School at the age of 14 to train as a Riveter at Hall Russell Shipyards and spent his whole working life in this capacity. When work ran out in Aberdeen, he and some of his fellow workmen travelled to other parts of the UK, e.g. Glasgow, to complete jobs there. Despite the work being very hard he was dedicated to the life and to the comradeship of his colleagues. For a number of years he acted as Treasurer for the Boilermakers' Union. It was quite remarkable that despite his large powerful frame (he was known as 'Big Bill' in the Shipyards) he managed to still remain physically active for the greater part of his life after working in extremely confined spaces on the ships.

During WWII he was in the Fire Service

Of a special note is the fact that William's father, William James Haggerty Stewart (later 'Stuart') was born at 50, Shiprow (part of the current Aberdeen Maritime Museum premises), where the family had a tailoring business.