author
John Stewart
1749–1822
An eccentric traveler and philosopher, he became famous as “Walking Stewart” after years of wandering across India, Persia, Turkey, and Europe. His books blend adventure, politics, and a fiercely original philosophy that fascinated later readers looking for bold, unconventional minds.
1 Audiobook
A Short View of the Laws Now Subsisting with Respect to the Powers of the East India Company To Borrow Money under their Seal, and to Incur Debts in the Course of their Trade, by the Purchase of Goods on Credit, and by Freighting Ships or other Mercantile Transactions
by William Pulteney, John Stewart
About the author
Born in London in 1749, John Stewart is better known as “Walking Stewart,” a name he earned through his remarkable habit of traveling long distances on foot. Sources describe him as a traveler, adventurer, and philosopher who spent time in India in the service of the East India Company before setting out on wider journeys through Asia and Europe.
Stewart wrote a number of self-published works and became known for a highly individual system of thought, often described as materialist or pantheistic. He was remembered by contemporaries as an eccentric, but also as a strikingly original figure whose life on the road shaped both his politics and his philosophy.
He died in 1822. Although never a conventional literary celebrity, Stewart has continued to attract interest because his life reads almost like a legend: restless, argumentative, widely traveled, and impossible to fit neatly into any single category.