Metemmeh, with about eighteen hundred men, of whom nearly two-thirds belonged to the camel regiments and 135 were cavalry. He had three guns and 2,888 camels. His orders were to occupy Metemmeh, leave a garrison there, and return to Jakdul. A small detachment was to be sent up from Metemmeh with Sir Charles Wilson in Gordon's steamers to Khartoum, not to remain there, but to encourage the garrison by the sight of British troops.
On 16 Jan., while Stewart was marching from Jakdul, the enemy were found to be in force near the wells of Abu Klea. Stewart formed a zereba and encamped for the night, and next morning advanced in square. The ground was undulating, giving a good deal of cover to the Arabs, and fifteen hundred or more of them made a sudden charge upon the left and rear faces of the square. Owing to the lagging of the camels, which were inside the square, the rear face had bulged out, and the men were not in such close order as elsewhere. The Arabs broke in here, and by the time those of them who were in front were killed and those behind driven off, the British force had lost 168 officers and men.
A small post was made at Abu Klea to shelter the wounded, and on the afternoon of the 18th the column resumed its march. Metemmeh was twenty-three miles off, and Stewart hoped to reach the Nile a little above that place before daybreak. But the night was dark, a belt of acacia bush had to be traversed, men and beasts were fatigued, and next morning he was still some miles from the river. Seeing that the Arabs meant to resist his further advance, he ordered a zereba to be formed for the baggage. While this was being done the enemy gathered round and kept up a hot fire, and about 10 A.M. on the 19th Stewart received a wound which obliged him to hand over the command to Sir Charles Wilson. He lingered for nearly a month, and strong hopes were entertained of his recovery, but he himself recognised from the first that the wound was mortal. He died on the way back from Khartoum to Korti, on 16 Feb., and was buried near the wells at Jakdul.
He lived long enough to learn that the expedition had been too late to save Khartoum, though by no fault of his. He also learnt that he had been promoted major-general for distinguished service, and he received with special pleasure, shortly before his death, a telegram of congratulation from the boys and masters of Winchester. In the telegram reporting his death, Lord Wolseley said: ‘No braver soldier or more brilliant leader of men ever wore the Queen's uniform.’
On 19 Dec. 1877 he married Georgiana Janet, daughter of Admiral Sir James Stirling [q. v.], and widow of Major-general Sir H. Tombs, V.C., and he left one son.
There is a mural monument to Stewart in St. Paul's Cathedral, by Boehm, appropriately placed behind the recumbent figure of Gordon in the north aisle of the nave. It is in three panels, the centre containing a medallion of him in high relief. There is also a memorial to him at Winchester, a gateway into the cloisters from the school quadrangle bearing his arms and the college arms, and inscribed, ‘In Memoriam Herberti Stewart.’ His portrait was painted by Frank Holl, R.A., and engraved by D. Wahrschmidt.
[Times, 21 Feb. 1885; Royal Engineers' Journal, 1881, p. 125; Maurice's Campaign of 1882; Colvile's Sudan Campaign; Wilson's From Korti to Khartoum; Cooper King's Story of the British Army, 1897, pp. 390–3; private information.]
STEWART, Sir HOUSTON (1791–1875), admiral of the fleet, third son of Sir Michael Shaw Stewart of Ardgowan, sixth baronet, by his cousin Catharine, youngest daughter of Sir William Maxwell, bart., was born on 2 Aug. 1791. He entered the navy in February 1805 on board the Medusa with Sir John Gore [q. v.], and in her went out to Calcutta. On his return he followed Gore to the Revenge, and in October 1806 was moved to the Impérieuse, then commanded by Lord Cochrane [see Cochrane, Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald], under whom he shared in the many incidents of that remarkable commission, including the defence of Rosas, till in December 1808 he was put in command of an armed xebec, which he himself had assisted in cutting out from under the batteries of Port Vendres, and was sent on an independent cruise in the Mediterranean. He did not return to Gibraltar till the Impérieuse had sailed for England, and was unable to join her till after the affair in Basque roads. He was, however, in her in the expedition to Walcheren, after which he was borne, during the winter, on the books of the flagship at Leith. Through the summer of 1810 he was in the Hussar in the Baltic, and during the following year was again in the Leith flagship, till promoted to be lieutenant on 1 Aug. 1811.
On 16 Aug. he was appointed to the Tigre, 74, in which ship, under Captain John Halliday, he served off Rochefort, and in the two following years he was Keith's signal lieutenant in the Channel, at first in the San Josef and afterwards in the Queen Charlotte.
