General Stewart School is named in honour of Brigadier-General John Smith Stewart, CMG, DSO, Croix de Guerre, DDS. The school opened on October 3, 1956.
John Smith Stewart was born in 1878 in Brampton, Ontario where he completed his education before attending the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in Toronto. In 1896 he moved to Edmonton and joined the Lord Strathcona’s Horse, serving with this Regiment in South Africa from 1900 to 1901, and earning the Queen’s Medal with four clasps. Upon his return from the Boer War, he relocated to Lethbridge in 1902 and continued his military service where, as a major in 1908, he was appoint Officer Commanding the 25th (Militia) Battery, later raising the 20th Battery for overseas service. In 1915, he was appointed Officer in Command of the 7th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery (CFA) and deployed to France in 1916 where he was twice wounded. In March 1917, he was transferred to command the Fourth Brigade CFA in France, and won the DSO and CMG. He was also twice mentioned in dispatches and awarded the French Croix de Guerre. In December, 1917, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and commanded the divisional artillery of the 3rd Canadian Division until the end of the war. Upon his return to Canada, he continued his public service as a member of the Provincial Legislature, a post he had held prior to his overseas service. He also served as a member of the House of Commons from 1930 to 1935. General Smith died in 1970.
