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Katie Stuart (nee Findlay)

Katie Harriet Rebecca Stuart nee Findlay (born 1862) was the eldest daughter of Schreiner’s sister Catherine (Katie) Findlay and her husband John. She married a doctor, Donald Stuart, who died at a young age; their son was Will Stuart,later a protégé of Will Schreiner and who became a lawyer. After his death Katie Stuart was long-term companion to Theo Schreiner, who she and her son lived with and cared for over many years. Schreiner evidently regarded Katie as an interfering and morally dubious figure, and as the cause of the family rift with Theo, commenting about Katie Stuart in a 1909 letter to Will Schreiner, “She’s a - well God hasn’t made anything worse; all the evil poor old Theo has done he has been lead into by her. It has been very painful to me to go & speak to her & still more to be near her”. Later, after Theo’s death, Schreiner commented in a letter to Fan Schreiner that she wished Katie Stuart had not ‘divided’ Theo so from the rest of his family.

Karel Schoeman (2002) ‘Seven women: a series of biographies. 6: Katie Stuart, 1862-1925: a public life’ Quarterly Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa 56 (3): 123-36
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collection icon Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of Witwatersrand: Historical Papers in the Cullen Library is a leading location for accessing archival papers across many periods, organisation... Show/Hide Collection Letters
collection icon SCCS Edited Extracts: Four groups of edited extracts from Olive Schreiner's letters can be accessed from here, made by her estranged husband Cronwr... Show/Hide Collection Letters
collection icon National Library of South Africa, Cape Town: Special Collections at the NLSA provide one of the leading locations for archival papers across many periods, organisations a... Show/Hide Collection Letters
collection icon University of Cape Town, Historical Manuscripts: Manuscripts & Archives at the University of Cape Town is a leading location for accessing archival papers across many per... Show/Hide Collection Letters
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