The Thistle Archive

Historian John Litster lists him as George, and this is how we was contemporarily reported when he joined Thistle in the close season of 1895. We note, however, that he's listed as Thomas in Wikipedia, and that Thomas, Tom or George have been quoted in relation to the player in various contemporary accounts during the course of his career. We list him as Lanarkshire-born on the strength of the Wikipedia entry, but his true identification remains a bit of an unsolved mystery.

The right back never lasted the full season at Inchview, and his final appearance for Thistle was marked with some controversy, as Niall Kennedy reported at PT Early Years: “Following the Leith game, several players quarrelled with the committee, and as a result went on strike. The problem took about a week to resolve, during which a friendly against Paisley Academicals was played. The Scottish Sport reported that “several ‘stars’ had a well-earned rest” as Thistle won 10-0. At the conclusion of the dispute, both John Crozier and George Stewart had had their services dispensed with. Stewart left to join Motherwell, while John Spence took over from Crozier in goal.”

He never lasted long at Motherwell either, and was bound for Newcastle, just before the end of 1896. As NUFC history reports: “Tom was a no nonsense defender, one of Newcastle's early 'hard men'. Arriving at St James's Park from Motherwell along with John Ostler the pair slotted straight into the team. He suffered the disappointment of missing out on the closing stages of United's first promotion campaign.”

In the close season of 1899, George made his final big move, arriving at Grimsby Town, contemporarily reported thus: “Grimsby announce their squad and it includes right-back (George) Thomas Stewart formerly of Newcastle. Stewart joined the Magpies from Motherwell in December 1896 and took over at right full back. But last season he lost his place to White and the arrival of Lindsay further reduced his chances. He made 30 appearances for the club.”